


Ellie Nihil and the Seven Wands

by xanihil



Series: Ellie Nihil [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Major Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 12:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 56,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15024920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanihil/pseuds/xanihil
Summary: Ellie Nihil and the Seven Wands directly follows the events of Part 1: Ellie Nihil and the Light of Fulfillment.Ellie Nihil and Severus Snape discover what it means to have a family





	1. Apothecary

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to "Ellie Nihil and the Light of Fulfillment"

Snape opened the window reluctantly. It was a hot night and he didn't want to let the cool air escape, but there was an owl tapping at the library window and he couldn't ignore it. He wasn't expecting a letter from anyone, and in any case he was accustomed to getting his mail in the morning, so he was already irritated that someone would be sending an owl so late at night.

When he went to grab the letter, the bird viciously pecked at his hand and ruffled its feathers. The Potions master scowled and tried to take it more gently this time, but he received the same treatment.

"Give me the letter or go away, " he said, "I'm not paying you."

The owl hooted indignantly and tried to peck him again. Snape drew his hand back quickly this time and cursed quietly. Cautiously, he looked at the plain envelope for some clue to the owl's unprofessional behaviour and realized with surprise that it was not his name on the envelope.

"Who would be writing to Ellie?" he asked vaguely. The owl just ruffled its feathers again and clicked its beak impatiently. "Am I allowed to take it for her or do I need to wake her up for this?" As an afterthought he added, "I'm her guardian."

The owl lifted its leg and slowly held the letter out for Snape to take. The professor held the bird's eyes mistrustfully and reached out to take the proffered letter even more slowly. When the transaction was complete, Snape quickly shut the window, and the owl made a big show of taking off again in the most dignified way it could, given that it was perched on a small sill and had just had a window rudely slammed in its face.

 

Ellie was as surprised as Snape had been when she got the letter in the morning. "But who would be writing to me?"

"I thought it might be the ministry calling you in to finalize the registration of  _ Restinctio Lux, _ but those forms normally take weeks or months to process, so it seems unlikely."

Ellie was nervous. The only owl mail she'd gotten since Snape took her in was one letter from Ollivander. Maybe he had changed his mind and wanted to retroactively charge her for the wand after all. She opened the envelope and immediately jumped to the signature at the bottom of the short letter. Her stomach flipped guiltily when she saw the name.

Ellie said, "It's from a school friend." She folded it quickly and brought it up to her room to read in private.

 

_ Ellie, _

 

_ I know that you just went through a traumatic event or whatever but you really need to talk to Phineas. He was really hurt that you wouldn’t tell him what happened. You could at least tell him why you won’t tell him anything instead of ignoring him. _

 

_ He was going through a tough time at the end of the year too, not that you bothered to ask. And you owe Yuki an apology too, although I don’t recommend sending Nomad to her until she gets back from Japan. _

 

_ They’re your friends. Start acting like it. _

 

_ Tiberius Flint _

 

The guilt just kept piling up. She'd been so wrapped up in her own problems that she had all but forgotten about her friends. She had no idea what issues Phineas was having and she hadn’t even realized that Yuki had gone back to Japan. But how could she possibly explain what she was going through? She tried composing a letter in her head.

 

_ Dear Phineas, _

 

_ I'm sorry for avoiding you recently. You see, Kamat was right about the Dark Arts all along! I murdered two orphan girls a few years ago and nearly killed three more people in a duel last month. Kamat just took it upon herself to rid the world of the next Dark Lord. Sadly, she didn’t succeed. _

 

_ Anyway I’m trying really hard to avoid the lure of Dark Magic right now but there’s no guarantee I won’t accidentally kill you the next time you piss me off. I hope that doesn’t put a damper on our friendship! _

 

_ Love, _

_ Ellie Nihil _

 

That was the honest thing to write, but she couldn’t actually send that, for many reasons. First of all, there was no way she was telling anyone about her first major act of magic. No one could understand how she felt about it, except maybe Snape, and she didn't want to scare her friends.

She also didn’t want Phineas to know that she had used Dark Magic against students who hadn’t actually been able to hurt her at all. For all she knew, they had missed her on purpose and just wanted to scare her. 

It had been one thing to hear the Weasley twins call her feat “brilliant” without knowing the details, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Phineas saying it. Ellie knew that he would express approval and maybe even admiration for what she had done to defend herself. And before it had happened she would have agreed with him.

She could still clearly hear the helpless crunch of a skull cracking as the unconscious bodies hit the floor. Without magic, that boy would have died from blood loss alone. 

She didn’t want to hear Yuki’s calm justification either. She'd probably say something about needing to protect herself and blaming Kamat for not teaching them enough purely defensive magic, which might be true but still missed the point.

The only thing that Ellie wanted to hear was that Kamat had been right. Ellie had a darkness in her, and it had always been there. Her essays about the nuance of dark magic were warning signs, and everyone else was too hung up on her young age to notice. And at the first opportunity, she used a dark charm that she had learned against the school's wishes to cause harm. Kamat was right. But Ellie would be doing as much as she could from now on to prove her wrong.

There was nothing she could do about her past, and she didn’t want to talk about it, especially not with her friends. She just wanted to move on and do better, like Snape did. She tried writing the letter again.

 

_ Dear Phineas, _

 

_ I’m sorry that I wasn’t around for you at the end of the year. I just didn’t want to talk about what happened, and I still don’t. If you can forgive me, and if you have time, maybe we could hang out before classes start again. Otherwise I'll see you in September. I miss you. _

 

_ Ellie Nihil _

 

It was a little short, but it was all she could think to say. He might still be angry and she didn't want to make it worse. His response came just a few days later.

 

_ Dear Ellie, _

 

_ You don't need to apologize. And you don't need to talk about anything if you don't want to. Tiberius was just being over dramatic when he sent that letter. Honestly, he's been having a harder time than me. His mum, my aunt, got sick back in March and hasn't been getting better. You know that I spent more time with her than with my own parents growing up, so I was pretty upset that I found out so late.  _

 

_ I've been with Tiberius at St. Mungo's most days, but his mum will be going home soon (we hope) and it would be nice to hang out somewhere other than my aunt's sick room. I could meet you next weekend in Diagon Alley, if you're allowed. _

 

_ Let me know. _

 

_ Phineas _

 

Ellie felt bad that she hadn't known about Phineas's aunt. That's the sort of thing she should have known, as a friend. Yuki probably did. He didn't seem to be holding a grudge though, which was good. Ellie wanted to do normal kid things for a change, and meeting her friend to go shopping or eat ice cream or whatever would be a novel experience.

She'd been reading more magical theory books, and they'd become increasingly difficult to understand. After struggling through 43 pages of one of Adalbert Waffling's least-read essays, "The Sound of Magic," she wanted to do little more than sleep. It was all very interesting to read, but the theory was nonetheless overwhelming.

She was also frustrated by how few witches and wizards had written on the topics she found most interesting. Waffling was considered the father of magical theory, and he'd died less than 10 years ago. She tried wading through older texts, by Merlin or Artemisia Lufkin, but they were full of speculation and superstition, and were hindered by their egotistical assumption that they were the source of their own power.

So she read everything that Waffling ever wrote. His writing was a little dry and he had a habit of warning the reader not to try this at home, but at least he understood the scientific method. She'd just about reached the end of his official publications when she found a thin volume of unedited notes and letters that had been released posthumously. 

One day she asked Snape, "Did you know that Professor Dumbledore knew Waffling personally? This book has letters they wrote to each other, and the forward says that Dumbledore was the one that compiled the notes."

"I had forgotten. Dumbledore knows just about everyone, I should think. But he never wrote any books on magical theory, if that’s what you’re wondering. I do have some old copies of  _ Transfiguration Today _ that he was published in, if you’re interested.”

Ellie wrinkled her nose. “I hate transfiguration. It’s just turning things into other things. Who else does he know?”

Snape narrowed his eyes disapprovingly but let the jab at her worst subject slide. “If they did something important in the last century, Dumbledore probably knows them. Nicholas Flamel. Bathilda Bagshot. Lucius Malfoy. Gwenog Jones. Everyone passes through Hogwarts on the way to greatness.”

“What about wizards from other countries?”

“As I’m sure you are aware, he is equally well connected in the international wizarding community.”

“Are there any theoreticians like Waffling from other countries? I haven’t found any but maybe their books just haven’t been translated…”

Snape sighed, “I’m really not the right person to ask. One Waffling book was enough for me. Most careers require little knowledge of such subjects.”

Changing tack, Ellie asked, “have you ever taught someone who became famous?”

“Of course. I’ve been teaching at Hogwarts for nine years. The N.E.W.T. students I taught in my first year are now in their late 20’s, well into their careers. We don’t exactly keep in touch, though.” He grimaced slightly and explained, “We knew each other as students. I was never quite able to earn their respect as a teacher. It was easier with students who only ever knew me as Professor Snape.”

“Wait,” said Ellie, doing some quick math. “How long after graduating did you start teaching?”

“Three years.”

“Three years. Plus the nine years you’ve been teaching… but that would only make you like 30 years old!”

Slightly amused, he replied “Yes, I’m only 30. How old did you think I was?”

“I don’t know, like 40? I’m only 11. All adults look the same to me.”

“I won’t be too insulted then. I’ll be 31 in January.”

“You’re way too young to be my dad.”

Snape flinched. “Miss Trumble made a similar comment. Fortunately, I look old enough.”

"Hey, speaking of things we're old enough for… Can I go to Diagon Alley on my own to meet up with Phineas?

Snape hesitated. "I suppose… But the book list hasn't even been released yet. What are you going to do there?"

Ellie shrugged. "Just hang out, I think. Walk around. Talk. Window shop."

"Alright. I'll give you a little money for food and such, but don't go overboard. And be sure to stay on Diagon Alley itself. Don't go wandering off down any side streets."

"Thanks! I won't." Ellie jumped up and went to send her letter to Phineas right away. 

 

The Leaky Cauldron was busy when she arrived, and most people didn't even look up when she popped into the fireplace. She scanned the room and found Phineas already sitting at a table, with two other people. He waved Ellie over and she took a seat next to him.

Phineas said, "I hope you don't mind that I invited Tiberius and Marcus too."

"No, it's fine." she said. Tiberius looked like he needed a day out as much as Ellie did. His usual buoyancy was gone, and the bags under his eyes revealed how little rest he was getting. Phineas also showed signs of prolonged worrying, but he was putting on a brave face for his cousins. Ellie had never met Marcus before, since he was three years older, so she didn't have a good point of comparison, but he also seemed pretty down. He didn't introduce himself to Ellie, but she couldn't be sure if that was unfriendliness or just depression.

In an awkwardly cheery voice, Phineas said, "So, er, where to? Gambol and Japes? Magical Menagerie?"

Tiberius shrugged noncommittally and Marcus continued to just stare into space so Ellie said, "Let's just walk around and see what catches our eye. Come on."

She and Phineas led the way with his cousins trailing a step or two behind. Phineas looked at her sort of apologetically, but didn't say anything. They peered into shop windows for a while and tried to get Tiberius involved in the conversation, but he seemed completely uninterested in the fascinating wares. Eventually they came to a used bookshop and Ellie suggested that they go in.

Tiberius and his brother lingered at the entrance, flipping through the featured books on display without seeming to take any of it in, while Ellie and Phineas moved further back into the dense stacks. 

Phineas whispered, "I'm sorry about all that. I just wanted them to get out of the house, you know?"

"I know. It's nice that you're trying. It might just be better to let them go back, though… Is your Aunt out of the hospital yet?"

"Yeah. Got back two days ago. She pretty much brought the hospital back with her though. She has a healer's assistant there and everything. But I think it's helping her to be at home, you know. She's got a nicer view, anyway."

A friendly-looking middle-aged witch popped her head into their aisle and asked, "Can I help you find anything, dears? Organization is a bit of a mess but I'll point you in the right direction."

Ellie replied, "Oh, um, yeah. Do you have any magical theory books?"

"Right this way." The witch led Ellie to a small section in the back, which looked very similar to Snape's own collection. She said, "I recommend Waffling, if you're just getting started."

"Thanks," said Ellie, "But I think I've read all of his…"

Phineas asked, "What, all of them? Even  _ The Sound of Magic _ ? And  _ The Smell of Magic _ ?" Scanning the titles in front of them, he pulled out a thin volume titled,  _ 101 Electrical Experiments _ and asked, "Even this one?"

Ellie nodded, "The first 100 were total failures. The last one worked though. He turned a lightbulb on using magic, with no battery. He thought he'd found the key to using magic as an energy source, but he got arrested for misusing muggle artifacts so he moved on to other things."

The shopkeeper seemed impressed. "Well we've got some other magical theory books here. Let's see.. Whitiker's  _ Origin of Magic _ ?"

Ellie shook her head. "Read it. Besides, his theory was disproved by Waffling in 1965."

"Goodness you do know your theory, don't you. You may be better off at Flourish and Blotts. They'll have all the latest publications. My selection is a little out of date…"

Ellie shook her head. She couldn't afford any new books. "Do you have anything by any foreign theoreticians?"

"Let's see… yes we have some Fuchs, but it's entirely in german I'm afraid. Are you interested in any related subjects? Alchemy? Wandlore?"

Phineas said, "Ooh yeah definitely wandlore. Reckon you have anything that's not in the Hogwarts library?"

She smiled and clapped her hands. "Oh, yes! Some writings by Gregorovitch, never published in Britain. Ollivander would be terribly insulted if he knew I had it. They never could see eye to eye regarding wand cores…"

The shopkeeper handed the book to Ellie and watched eagerly as she flipped through it. The cover was worn and many of the pages were dog-eared or heavily underlined. Clearly the previous owner had read through it very thoroughly, probably more than once. It was more of the same about the personalities of different woods, but it also contained some wand core descriptions that were new to her and a brief description of how wands are actually made, so she decided to buy it.

Tiberius was alone when they came back to the front. "Where's Marcus?" asked Phineas.

"He said he was going to go look at brooms, but I think he may have just gone home."

Phineas seemed disappointed. "Do you want to go home?"

Tiberius sagged with relief and nodded. "Thanks for trying, Phin. But I'm just not in the mood. I'll see you around, Ellie."

Phineas and Ellie watched as he walked slowly but purposefully through the crowd of adult witches and wizards, until he was out of sight.

Ellie asked, "What now?"

He shrugged and said, "I dunno. I've sort of seen everything already, except…"

There was something mischievous in the way he trailed off, and Ellie was almost afraid to ask, "except what?"

"Well I've never been here without my family before so I haven't been allowed… but I've always wanted to check out Knockturn Alley."

Ellie thought of Snape's warning not to wander down any side streets. "I dunno, I don't think I'm allowed…"

Phineas scoffed, "Who's going to stop you? That muggle who runs the Home?"

Ellie thought about making up some story about Hogwarts keeping an eye on her, but she was curious now. "Why weren't you allowed there?"

"Oh well it kind of has a reputation of Dark Magic, but most people have to go down there at some point, anyway, so it's not like totally bad. It has the best apothecary in the country, for one thing. Loads of rare ingredients and things, plus an expert potion maker who'll brew up anything you need for the right price…"

Ellie looked skeptical. She really didn't want to keep associating herself with dark magic.

"Aw don't look like that, Ell. It's not just like poisons or whatever. They also do like tonics for rare pets. Granted, most people aren't bothered by salamanders with scale rot but if you're really into care of magical creatures, there's nowhere better to go. You're such a potions nerd, I thought you'd at least want to look in the window."

She smiled guiltily, "Yeah alright. I'm a huge potions nerd and you're very convincing. Let's go." Phineas led the way and Ellie continued, "Do you think they'll have Mamushi venom? It's not technically illegal but it's hard to find."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Not if you don't touch it. It's the key ingredient for liquid sunshine. I mean you could use salamander blood instead, but Mamushi venom acts as a preservative so you could store the potion for years and it would still work. Salamander blood goes all gooey after a few months..."

Their conversation died as they entered the mouth of the alley. A few steps in, they couldn't hear the buzz of the street behind them and they could feel the temperature drop. The narrow street had a few customers hurrying along with their heads down, and Ellie immediately understood why Snape hadn't wanted her here. Despite Phineas's claim that the place was alright, every shop window was full of dark objects. Her skin prickled uncomfortably as they passed a storefront full of shrunken heads, which were watching them carefully.

Ellie wanted to turn around, but Phineas didn't seem bothered. He was staring around with obvious interest and was perfectly thrilled with this little bit of rule-breaking. Ellie was worried that he would want to go into one of the shops with miscellaneous dark objects, but he didn't stop until they were at the apothecary. The bell on the door clanged dully as Ellie followed him inside.

The large shop had several small display cases in the middle of the room, containing all manner of herbs and vials. Around the perimeter there was a long counter cutting customers off from the three walls filled floor to ceiling with even more ingredients. It was empty except for a dour old man sitting behind the counter, weighing and bagging small quantities of a peculiar purple vine that Ellie didn't recognize. He didn't look up when they walked in, so they started looking at the display cases.

Phineas was right. This place was definitely better stocked than the apothecary she had visited in Diagon Alley last summer. She only recognized a fraction of the things before her, many of which were unlabelled. She assumed that if you came in here looking for a rare ingredient, you ought to know what it looked like first. She wandered over to look at the array of vials on one wall (as far away from the shopkeeper as possible).

There were easily a hundred different types of blood. To her surprise, the dragonblood was labelled by breed and age of the dragon. She wondered how their effects differed from each other. There were also some bottles labelled "Seer" and "Metamorphmagus" which Ellie guessed were full of human blood. A small sign on the counter said, "No Unicorn blood." It said something about the expected clientele that the sign was even necessary, since the unicorn blood trade was universally reviled and outlawed.

"No touching!" said the owner harshly. Ellie spun around and saw Phineas hastily pulling his hand back from a dragon claw on display. "If you're not buying, get out."

Phineas looked at Ellie desperately and she said, "Um, we, well, I, actually… I was wondering if you have any Mamushi Venom? Sir?"

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but he stepped away from the scales and turned to a glass cabinet behind him. Ellie drifted over and was joined by Phineas at the counter. The shopkeeper placed two glass vials in front of them. One was about the size of Ellie's fist, and the other no bigger than her little finger. Ellie lifted the tiny tag with a shaky hand but there was no price under the little  _ Mamushi Venom _ label. "Um… How much is it?"

The storekeeper tapped his fingers on the counter irritably and sucked on his cheek. In a store without price tags, the assumption was that if you had to ask, you couldn't afford it. Looking back and forth between the two children, he said, "Five galleons." Phineas winced. "For the small bottle."

As Ellie tried to think of a polite way to extricate herself from the conversation, the bell on the door rang again. For a moment she was grateful for something to diffuse the intense moment. With a respectful tone, the shopkeeper said, "Ah, I'm sorry I don't have your order ready yet, Severus. Still waiting on a few deliveries, I'm afraid."

Ellie's stomach dropped. She and Phineas glanced at each other quickly in panic but didn't turn around or say anything. Ellie winced at each of Snape's slow, measured steps toward the counter. He leaned on the counter right next to her, so it was impossible for her to not see him, unless she turned her head. She froze with her eyes straight ahead, desperately trying to pretend that the face in her peripheral vision was anything less than furious.

Snape reached out a long, pale hand and flipped the tag on the bottle toward himself. Icily, he said, "Mamushi Venom. What are you planning to make with Mamushi venom, exactly?" The children held their tongues. The shopkeeper seemed to recognize that this conversation did not involve him, so he backed up a pace, but continued to watch cautiously. With sudden volume, Snape snapped, "Prewett!"

Phineas jumped and made the mistake of meeting Snape's eyes. Once they locked on, he seemed unable to look away. Stuttering, he said, "J-Just liquid s-sunshine, s-sir…"

Snape shifted his glare to Ellie and Phineas hurriedly lowered his eyes again. The professor continued quietly, "And what were you planning to do with this potion, assuming you were able to brew it correctly at all?"

It seemed like such a weak excuse, now that she thought about it, to go into the forbidden street full of dark magic for such a silly thing, but she saw no choice but to answer. "Well, there's no sunlight in the dungeons so I thought I could use it to, well… grow some flowers, even in - in the dark…"

Snape seemed at a loss for words for moment. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists on the counter, turning away from the children. "Flowers… Liquid sunshine… for flowers. You are aware, aren't you, of what happens when bare skin is exposed to liquid sunshine?"

Ellie blushed guiltily. She knew exactly how dangerous it was. Plants sustained by liquid sunshine were completely untouchable until they were thoroughly washed, which is why it wasn't commonly used, and was entirely banned in professional agriculture for anything that might someday be eaten. Trying to downplay this a little, she said, "It… well it gives you a sunburn."

The shopkeeper snorted. "You mean it boils your skin off and causes cancer."

Phineas gasped. Clearly he had been misled by the innocent-sounding name. Ellie said weakly, "Only if it's undiluted…"

Snape banged his fist on the counter and yelled, "So you knew!" 

Phineas and Ellie drew back. Seeing their fear, Snape took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth, "You knew, and you were going to use it anyway. I expected better of you. And why come all the way here for the venom when you could use the standard -"

"Salamander blood, I know." Ellie interrupted. "But I didn't want it to coagulate…"

Snape did not look pleased by her feeble explanation but the shopkeeper appraised her appreciatively. "Very good. You never want to compromise on key ingredients. As a student you do it all the time, I'm sure, but you'll move past that eventually if you continue with the subject. You must be very proud of your student, Severus."

The professor rounded on the thin man and said sternly, "I would thank you not to sell such ingredients to my underage students, Malcolm, no matter how knowledgeable they appear."

Haughtily, he replied, "I wasn't planning to. She couldn't afford it anyway."

Snape nodded stiffly and said, "I'll be back for my order next week." He turned to the children and said, "Playtime is over. Go home." And finally, giving Ellie a significant look, "Immediately."

Phineas and Ellie scurried out of the shop, and practically ran back to diagon alley, not stopping until they were once again surrounded by the warm and friendly environment. Phineas looked over his shoulder to make sure Snape hadn't followed then breathed a sigh of relief. "I reckon we got off easy back there. I thought he'd give us detention or something for sure. You think he'll tell my parents?"

Ellie didn't think that he would. The real punishment, she felt, had been his look of disappointment. She was not looking forward to facing him when she got home, but she knew that delaying the confrontation would only make it worse. Gloomily, she said, "I've got to go now. I'll write, if I can."

Phineas patted her shoulder consolingly and said, "Don't worry. I bet you're still his favorite student."

Ellie grunted noncommittally and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, leaving Phineas to make his own way home. When she stepped out of the fire at Spinner's End, Snape was already sitting in his armchair, waiting for her. Ellie put her newly purchased book on the end table and sat down on the small sofa, as far from Snape as she could.

A minute passed, then two, then five, and still Snape said nothing. Ellie could feel his eyes boring into her, though. She glanced up and saw him glaring, then looked away quickly. Finally she mustered her courage and said, "I'm sorry, Professor."

"I told you to stay in Diagon Alley, but you just couldn't keep away, could you. If you are trying to distance yourself from the dark arts, showing up in Knockturn alley is not doing you any favors."

"But lots of wizards go there, even you -"

" _ I _ am an adult, and am required to go there for my job. You, however, are a student with no business there. And I specifically asked you not to."

Something was bothering Ellie. "How did you even know I was there? Were you following us?"

"I was tracking you," he said, pointing at a small silver disk on the table. "If you went where you weren't supposed to, that would light up."

Ellie was shocked. "How could you do that? That's like… like spying on me! I thought you trusted me."

"What have you done to earn my trust?" he snapped back. "And do you really think I was the only one keeping tabs on you? People notice who shows up in Knockturn Alley, Ellie. It is discussed. The headmaster will know soon, if he doesn't already, and he will be far angrier than I am."

"I don't care what he thinks of me -"

"You should care. He was very lenient with you your first year, but do not expect that special treatment to continue. You need to watch yourself, because he will certainly be watching you."

Ellie crossed her arms and said, "What's he going to do to me? Give me detention? Tell my parents?"

"Stop being such a child!" Snape stood up from his chair and threw his hands up in exasperation. "He can expel you, break your wand, banish you from the magical community, wipe your mind, curse you, kill you, whatever he wants! He is the most powerful wizard in the world. Kamat is nothing - NOTHING - compared to him."

Suddenly quiet, he sat beside her and said, "I am trying to protect you, Ellie. I believe you are good. And Dumbledore wants to believe. But you are going out of your way to prove us wrong. Just keep your head down, alright? Go to classes. Do your homework. Stop messing with magic you don't understand."

"But I  _ do _ understand."

"You don't. Not yet."


	2. Charm Council

Ellie received a notice from the Ministry of Magic, informing her that she was required to present herself, her wand, and her new spell to the Charm Regulation Council at 10:30 AM on August 20th. It wasn't exactly how she had wanted to spend her birthday, but it was better than just staying home. Snape was still mad at her, and definitely wouldn't be letting her go see Phineas any time soon. Yuki had written Ellie to say that her family would be back in London the week before classes, and invited Ellie to come stay with them for a few days, but Ellie hadn't yet had the courage to ask Snape for that favor. She hoped that he would be in a better mood after she fulfilled her promise to Dumbledore and had her spell properly registered.

To her surprise, neither Dumbledore nor Snape would be accompanying her to the ministry. Dumbledore, she gathered, was too busy, and Snape didn't want to be seen with her in public more than was strictly necessary. So she would be going on her own. 

On her birthday, she dressed more carefully than usual. Once again, she was wearing her school robes, since it seemed inappropriate to show up to the ministry dressed like a muggle. She usually wore her hair down, but she tied it up into a ponytail, in the hopes of making herself look more mature. Looking in the mirror, she realized that she was going to look like a 12 year old no matter what she did, and the ponytail only accentuated her horse-like features, so she let it down again, but brushed it out carefully.

The guest entrance to the ministry was even stranger than Snape had described. After punching the password into the number pad in the phone booth, a disembodied voice actually spoke to her and asked her what her business was. As the lift descended into the ground, she pinned on the little badge that read  _ Eileen Nihil, Charm Registration _ .

The Atrium was absolutely stunning. Every bit as impressive as Hogwarts had been. The morning rush was over, so she had a clear view of the ornate walls and the shining statues of the glorious fountain. She found the visitor desk without much trouble, and presented herself to the welcome witch. 

"Oh, hello dear! Nearly didn't see you down there. Have you lost your mum?"

Ellie resisted the urge to make a biting remark about being an orphan. She was sure that the welcome witch meant well, after all. Instead, she placed her wand on the counter and pointed at the badge on her chest, saying, "Er, no. I'm here to register a spell I invented. I got this notice…"

Ellie handed the official document to the surprised witch and waited for her to finish. "Yes, I see you are on the list here… Yes you can go to Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Just head straight down the hall from the lift all the way to the end and wait in the sitting area there. Someone will call you."

Ellie followed the instructions, drawing many curious looks as she walked down the hall. She sat down on a hard wooden chair and looked at the clock on the wall. She was 40 minutes early, so she took out her book and continued reading about the history of goblin-made armor. The book had a distinctly pro-wizard tilt, but it was significantly less dry than the account in  _ A History of Magic _ so Ellie was enjoying it anyway.

After just a few minutes, though, someone called her name. “Ellie! That is you, isn’t it? I thought I saw you walk by. What brings you here?”

Slightly startled, she said, “Oh, Mr. Weasley. It’s good to see you again. I’m, um, here to demonstrate a spell I invented. For the charm council. Only I’m pretty early so I’m waiting here. Do you work here?”

He smiled brightly and said, “In the misuse of muggle artifacts Office! Fascinating stuff, just wonderful. Of course Fred and George tell me you’re muggle born so it’s nothing new to you. Are your parents here with you?”

He looked around eagerly, as if he could imagine nothing more exciting than meeting a muggle. Ellie just shook her head in reply. She wasn't entirely comfortable with Mr. Weasley knowing she was muggle-born, let alone a muggle-born orphan.

“So, charm council is it? Fred and George are quite interested in spell invention, as well. Nothing worth patenting yet, of course. But they’ll get there eventually I’m sure…”

“I’m not patenting it. Just registering it.”

“Oh! I just assumed… well you know most people wouldn’t bother, what with all the red tape.”

“Isn’t that technically illegal?”

Mr. Weasley looked slightly uncomfortable. “Well, of course - I would never encourage any young wizards to break the law, you understand. I am a ministry official after all, but it seems unusual nonetheless. I thought, perhaps, unusual circumstances? A particularly powerful jinx or some such…”

Mr Weasley seemed to want Ellie to say something, maybe explain what her spell did, but Ellie didn’t like his poorly veiled accusation. She was indeed being forced to register her spell, but not because it was dangerous, as he had implied. She wondered if the Weasley children had told him about her rumored duel.

After an awkward moment of silence, Mr. Weasley said, "Well… best be getting back to work. Good luck with the charm council!”

 

The charm council turned out to be just three witches at a small round table in a rather unremarkable office. The youngest introduced herself brightly as Meryl and her middle aged companion as Mrs. Crewell. The ancient looking one said, “You can call me Madame Marchbanks.” Then, looking down at her papers, “and you would be Eileen Nihil?”

Ellie wanted to say that she went by Ellie, but was afraid of insulting the intimidating witch, so she just nodded.

"Yes, Albus mentioned you. He was very impressed, very impressed with your spell. Go on, show us how it goes."

Ellie was startled that she was asked to perform the spell right away. After all that paperwork, she was expecting to be drilled on details about the origin of the spell and who had helped her and all the expected effects. It almost felt like a trick. "Is it ok? I mean, I'm underage and I'm not at Hogwarts…"

The old woman waved her hand impatiently. "Yes, yes. Nevermind about that."

Ellie took out her wand drew the now-familiar figure eight pattern in the air. Softly but clearly, she said the incantation and her wand tip ignited. She held onto the magic for a moment, savoring the peace it brought her. How had she been worried about doing this a minute ago? Whatever Madame Marchbanks thought, Ellie knew the spell was great. Everything was great, actually. She wouldn't change a thing.

With a faint smile, she let the light fade out. Meryl clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Oh, well done! She could teach old Summerbee a thing or two, couldn't she, ladies?"

Mrs. Crewell grunted in agreement while Madame Marchbanks nodded thoughtfully and said, "No, this feeling isn't quite happiness… simply contentment. I do imagine you have a knack for cheering charms, though, don't you Miss Nihil?"

Ellie had never had a knack for anything charms related, before this spell. She was well-known as the worst in her year for anything involving wandwork. "I haven't learned cheering charms yet, Madame Marchbanks."

The old woman raised her eyebrows and leaned forward a little, "No? Hogwarts used to teach them early on. How old are you again?"

"Eleven - wait, no. Twelve. As of today."

Meryl smiled and said, "Well, happy birthday, then! I hadn't realized. But yes, there it is right at the top of form 3b. We really ought to read these after all the trouble you go through to fill them out, but there simply isn't enough time..."

Marchbanks waved her hand dismissively. "Alright. My turn.  _ Restinctio Lux _ ."

The sudden light was blinding, but Ellie couldn't find the will to look away. There was nothing wrong with being blind, after all. Marchbanks extinguished her wand quickly, leaving the other three witches blinking stupidly in the relative darkness.

The only one who seemed unaffected was Marchbanks herself. Ellie wondered if she had cast some sort of protective charm to shield herself from the effects of the light. Marchbanks said, "You were holding back, Ellie. This is quite a powerful spell. I've never known a twelve year old to bind a charm so well…" She continued shrewdly, "did someone bind it for you? Cooperative magic can have surprisingly strong effects."

"Yes, Professor Snape helped me." Ellie knew in the back of her mind that there was a reason not to reveal this, but it didn't seem terribly important at the moment.

"Snape did? Why not Professor Flitwick?"

A little warning bell was trying to make itself heard in Ellie's mind. "Oh, well Professor Flitwick doesn't like me much." This was probably the wrong thing to say to the Charms Council, all of whom thought very highly of the charms teacher at Hogwarts. Marchbanks seemed more skeptical of Ellie than before, and Mrs. Crewell grunted again, as if acknowledging that she trusted Flitwick's judgement. As Ellie's head cleared from the effects of Marchbanks' incantation, she tried to recover. "I mean, Professor Snape is my head of house. So he knows me better…"

Marchbanks clicked her tongue and tapped her wand idly on the table, causing little green sparks to bounce in shimmery arcs across the polished wood. "This could be quite a profitable spell, you know. You could store the light in a bottle, perhaps, and sell it. Why share it with the public?"

Ellie sensed that "because Dumbledore made me" would not be an appropriate answer here. Dredging up all the caution she could muster from under her blanket of contentment, she said, "I want people to be able to use the spell… to feel good. Or, you know, cheer up their friends..."

Meryl nodded in approval but Marchbanks seemed unimpressed. "Not for fame? Glory? There is no shame in wanting that. I was a Slytherin too, you know."

Ellie hadn't really thought of that angle before, since in truth she didn't want to share her spell at all. "Are spell inventors famous?"

"You need to pay more attention to Professor Flitwick, girl. Felix Summerbee died in 1463, and we still remember his name because he invented the cheering charm."

Ellie tried to imagine someone teaching her spell 500 years in the future.  _ And the brilliant witch, Eileen Nihil, invented her first spell at the age of eleven. The powerful Light of Fulfillment has been favored by healers for generations, rendering the popular Summerbee cheering charm of the 15th century obsolete. Now follow my wand movement… _

She suppressed a foolish grin. "That would be good too."

Marchbanks summoned a quill and slid a piece of parchment toward Ellie. "Well that's good enough for me. Just sign here and the registration will be complete."

Ellie signed her name on the dotted line. She could feel the magic in the paper somehow, and she was sure that it was more than just a formality. Before she could read the fine print, though, Marchbanks took it back so the three witches of the council could sign as well. 

Meryl said, "You're free to go, Miss Nihil. Thank you for registering your spell."

 

A week later, Ellie was packing her trunk in preparation for the start of term. After some considerable begging and numerous promises to behave herself, Ellie convinced Snape that she could be trusted to visit Yuki. She was eager to see her friend after so long, although she was still nervous that Yuki was holding a grudge that didn't come across in her letters.

She was also going a little stir-crazy, cooped up in the house at Spinner's end. She could go outside for walks if she wanted to, but it was hot out and she couldn't bring any magic books so it wasn't a very appealing prospect. Mostly she was frustrated with Snape, though. He was being grumpy and rude, and always found something to yell at her about everytime they shared a room. Either she was spending too much time on theory and not enough preparing for classes, or she had tarnished his favorite knife cutting up potions ingredients, or she was just stomping too loudly on the stairs. 

She knew that Snape had always acted this way toward the other students, but she didn't like having his ire directed at her. For a man who was used to living alone, Ellie supposed that he was just coming to terms with the frustration of having a child around all the time. She hoped that their more distant relationship during the school year would relieve some of the tension, but there was also a part of her that realized that Snape may have just had enough of her. She was careful not to leave any of her items outside the trunk, in case she wouldn't be coming back.

 

Snape was worried about Ellie going to stay with her friend. He didn't know anything about Yuki's parents, other than that they were from Japan and that they were proud to have a daughter in Slytherin. Snape had always taken pride in his house, of course, but the influence of a conservative pureblood family was the last thing Ellie needed at the moment. She seemed determined to act out. Whenever he made even the smallest suggestion lately about what she should be doing, Ellie would snap back at him with some insolent response. Really, her attitude toward the dark arts had not changed much from the previous year. She just had some confusing guilt piled on top of the conviction that no magic was inherently wrong.

The hypocrisy of the situation was not lost on Snape. Who was he to tell anyone to listen to authority figures or stay away from the dark arts? He'd been frequenting knockturn alley since he was a child running errands with his mother. Like Ellie, Snape had been tracked as a potential threat by Dumbledore since his early days at Hogwarts. He did not regret most of his forays into what may be considered dark magic. That curiosity gave him power that lesser wizards only dreamed of, frightened as they were to cross some moral line. And yet here he was, cautioning Ellie to ignore the same lure of power, to keep away from the sources of knowledge that were only to be found where dark magic flourished.

Lily's death had taught him what Dumbledore never could, which is that there were indeed lines that should never be crossed. Ellie, he hoped, had learned that lesson from Kamat. But there was so much to explore between typical magic and that distant line! It did not matter where Snape drew the line, though. All that mattered was where Dumbledore drew it. Because if Ellie crossed that, there would be no coming back to Hogwarts. So Snape was forced to draw the line one step closer, and keep Ellie within those bounds. It wouldn't work forever, he thought. Someday she would want to do more.

Standing in front of the fireplace, Snape asked Ellie, "Do you have everything?"

Ellie nodded and smoothed the cover on Nomad's cage.

"The host gifts for the Sasaharas?"

Rolling her eyes slightly, she said, "Yes. I said I have  _ everything _ "

"Fine." Snape sighed heavily. "Enjoy your trip. Just… stay out of trouble, alright?"

"Stop worrying so much. I'll see you in class."

"What about Sunday? The Sunday before classes?" Snape suddenly realized that it may have been a little presumptive to assume that Ellie would want to continue their weekly meetings. The end of term events had changed their relationship, and they’d been bickering nonstop ever since he caught her in knockturn alley.

"I've been with you all summer." Ellie replied, continuing to avoid Snape's eyes by fussing with Nomad's cage. "We can go two weeks without talking."

"Ellie, we've barely talked this summer." Snape tried to catch her eye, but she was staring resolutely at her trunk. "Ellie, please stop being so difficult. I won't make you talk about… challenging topics. Not right now. But I am expecting you to be there on Sunday."

Ellie just hoisted up her trunk and moved to the fire. "Yuki will be worried if I'm late. Goodbye, Professor." Then, without a backwards glance, she threw a handful of floo powder into the hearth and stepped into the flames.

Snape had half a mind to follow her after that rude exit, but decided against it. There were only a few days until the start of term, and he still had a lot to do.

With Ellie gone, he decided to just move back to his on-campus apartment early. He went through each room in the house, closing the curtains and shutting drawers, making everything neat for his departure. The potions lab in his basement required the most time, since he needed to make sure the more volatile ingredients were properly stored.

He searched idly though the cabinet, to see if there was anything worth adding to his private stores at Hogwarts. He had restocked them at the end of last year, but you never knew what you might need. He grabbed a box of bezoars, which were always good to have on hand. On a whim, he took the powdered ashroot as well, in case his N.E.W.T. students were interested in vanishing solutions this year. 

His hand lingered over the salamander blood, thinking of Ellie. She was right, of course, about the liquid sunshine. Salamander's blood was hardly an acceptable substitute for Mamushi venom. No respectable potioneer would consider it, other than for academic reasons. Not for the first time, Snape wondered whether he was doing a disservice to his students by simplifying instructions and changing ingredients to make the potions less dangerous, and thus less powerful.

In his first few years of teaching, he had tried to really improve the way potions was taught. Everything he had figured out as a student, he wanted to impart to the next generation. But he quickly found that only one or two students per year were capable enough to attempt the complex instructions he put on the board. When he told his students that they had to trim every fern segment to exactly 1 inch, they ignored him and approximated anyway, resulting in several small explosions in each class. So eventually he replaced the ferns of Bershwick's Brew with elder bark, which weakened the effect but didn't cause any explosions. Over the years he'd found a balance. Better than the textbook, but straightforward enough for the average student to manage. 

Ellie was not an average student. If he told her to, she would count every scale on a snakeskin to make sure it was a multiple of seven, before crushing it into powder and adding it to the cauldron. Sometimes she would even make these discoveries herself. She had a gift for it. If any twelve year old could make liquid sunshine without burning through the cauldron, it was Ellie. Her friend, Phineas, was a mediocre potion maker, at best, though. If they attempted to brew it together, they could both end up with lifelong injuries. But with the right supervision…

He unlocked the bottom doors of the cabinet with a silent charm, and began looking through the bottles there. He thought that he had some mamushi venom leftover from a potion he had made a few years ago, but it didn't appear to be there anymore. Maybe had had finished it after all, or possibly brought it back to Hogwarts at some point. He sighed and locked the door again. It was probably for the best. Even if he and Ellie brewed it together, he couldn't allow her to keep such a dangerous potion in her room, let alone use it on plants that unwary Slytherins were likely to touch.

When he arrived at Hogwarts, he did not have time to unpack. Dumbledore had called the teachers to the staff room that evening to meet the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. This year's candidate was significantly less impressive than Kamat had been. He was extremely young-looking, and probably could have passed for a student himself. Slight, mousy-haired, and smiley, he immediately rubbed Snape the wrong way. 

"Hello! I am so excited to be working with all of you this year! As Professor Dumbledore said, my name is John Brightwell. After spending the last few years as a junior Auror at the ministry, I'm delighted to be sharing my knowledge with all the bright young students here. And of course, I look forward to getting to know all of you, my coworkers!"

Sprout shook his hand vigorously and said, "Don't be silly, we all remember you. I chose you as a Hufflepuff prefect myself, you know. Recommended you for Head Boy as well, but we can't all have everything we want, can we? It's wonderful to have you back again, John."

After listening to this exchange, Snape remembered how he knew John Brightwell. John had been in his 6th year Potions class in his first year as a teacher, and he had found John to be completely unimpressive. An overly cautious potioneer with little to no flair and a rather forgettable presence. Other professors had had high hopes for the boy, but Snape had been unsurprised to hear of John's struggles after graduation.

John went around the room, shaking hands and reminiscing with all the teachers he had known as a student. When he reached Snape, he held out his hand and said, "it's great to see you again after all this time, Professor Snape. Although now that we're working together, I suppose I should call you Severus?" 

When Snape was slow to shake his hand, John chuckled nervously and glanced around, hoping for help. The other teachers were carefully looking away and John was wondering if any of them were allowed to call the potions master Severus, and if he had made a horrible mistake in suggesting it.

After a moment, though, Snape clasped John's hand tightly and said, "Congratulations on becoming a …  _ junior _ auror. After they rejected your application for the second year in a row I thought you had given up."

John drew his hand back, blushing slightly. With a brave attempt at good humor, he said, "Well, the third time's the charm, they say!"

Snape did not laugh with him, and after an awkward pause, John turned back to Professor Sprout and general conversation resumed again. Snape lurked on the edge of a conversation between Vector and Sinistra about the declining quality of standard brass telescopes until Dumbledore called the room to order.

"Just a few more things before I let you go. First, Madam Pince wanted me to remind you that a dozen or so more books have been moved into the restricted section over the summer, so if they are required for any of your N.E.W.T. students you will need to write a note."

Snape had not consulted the list of newly restricted books yet, but he had a feeling that several of Ellie's preferred duelling books had made the cut.

Dumbledore continued, "There are a few student situations you should all be aware of as well. Daryl Smith will not be returning for his 6th year, as his parents decided Hogwarts wasn't worthwhile if he only qualified for two N.E.W.T. classes. But don't worry, he says that he will be continuing his studies at home. Still, if any of you find yourself with some spare time to write a letter, I'm sure he would appreciate your encouragement.

"I am pleased to announce that Eurydice Jones will also be joining us as a first year, after recovering from that bout of spattergroit last year. Her parent is concerned that she may face some problems, with the slight age difference from her peers and her, ah, altered features. So I’d like all of you to do your best to make sure she feels welcome here. And if other students cause problems for her, please try to handle it quickly.”

Snape wondered how important Eurydice's parents were. Dumbledore didn’t bother protecting most students, but it was always worthwhile to coddle the children of ministry officials, in the headmaster’s opinion. For the good of the school, was the unspoken reason. Snape privately resolved to treat her just like everyone else, regardless of her facial disfigurement or her parents creed.

“And finally,” said Dumbledore, “this should go without saying, but I will say it anyway. You will constrain yourself to the accepted forms of discipline, and you will not use magic on a student as punishment for any reason. Anyone breaking this rule will be asked to leave immediately.”

Brightwell glanced around nervously, trying to figure out how he should be reacting to this announcement. Everyone else knew that this was about Kamat and Ellie, and kept their eyes calmly fixed anywhere except where Snape was. Snape did not think that the meek Mr. Brightwell would be a threat, but when the new professor accidently caught his eye, he glared dangerously, just in case.


	3. Sasahara

Yuki met Ellie at the Leaky Cauldron, where they shared a lunch together. Ellie felt a little guilty about always using the fireplace there as a transportation hub but never actually buying anything, but Ellie didn't have any money to spare. Even if Snape had offered, she didn't want to take any more from him than what the Hogwarts Scholarship provided for her. Yuki insisted on paying for something, though, so Ellie ordered the cheapest meal on the menu. The landlord, Tom, seemed to understand the situation and was very kind about it and even let her leave her trunk there while they went to do some last minute shopping in Diagon Alley.

"Why did they wait so long to send out the book list?" asked Yuki, on their way into Flourish and Blotts.

"I think that they needed to find a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher after Kamat left. Look, we have a textbook for it this year."

" _All About Defense, Third Edition_ by Clara Clipeus. Never heard of it." Scanning the room she found a big stack of identical books and said, "Here it is. By the look of that pile, everyone in the school needs a copy."

Ellie picked up the massive volume and winced at the price tag. It cost nearly as much as all her other books combined. Yuki had no problem paying for it, of course, but seeing Ellie's expression, she got the shopkeepers attention and asked if they had any used copies.

The store manager said, "I'm sorry girls, but the third edition just came out a few months ago."

Ellie looked dismally at the few coins she had in her bag. No matter how she counted, she didn't have enough to buy all her new books and restock her potions stores. "Do you have any old second or first editions? It's better than nothing."

Yuki quietly said, "If you don't have enough, I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind helping…"

Ellie shook her head. Yuki's family was already doing enough for her by feeding and housing her for the next week. But taking actual money from Yuki seemed different, somehow. Just one step beyond what Ellie's pride could handle. Yuki looked like she wanted to insist, but she dropped the matter and wandered off to look at other books so Ellie could talk to the store manager privately.

The manager said, "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, miss. The list does specify the third edition, and there have been some changes."

"I know. But I don't have much choice."

The manager seemed to debate the issue internally for a moment, but relented and said, "Alright, alright. I'll check in the back."

While he was looking for an old edition, Ellie looked longingly at the other textbooks nearby. They were organized by year, to make it easy for the hundreds of Hogwarts students coming through this week to buy their books. She'd long since finished reading all her first year textbooks, even the ones that would continue to be used for the next few years, like _A History of Magic_ and _Magical Drafts and Potions_. There were only a few advanced potions books on the 6th year shelf, and she desperately wanted a copy. Snape had discouraged her from reading too far ahead, or he would have nothing left to teach.

To her surprise, Waffling's _Magical Theory_ was now among the required first year books. She'd told Snape last year that she thought it ought to be. Maybe he had listened and suggested it to Dumbledore.

The third year shelves were the most interesting, since she hadn't decided which electives to take yet. She was glad she had a full year more to decide, since nearly all of them looked so interesting. She picked up the Muggle studies book and flipped through it idly. It didn't really have anything new to her in it, but she thought that Phineas could learn a thing or two from a book like that. That was one class she would not be taking, though.

She hurriedly replaced it on the shelf as the manager came back with a thick book in his hand. "The second edition hasn't been used at Hogwarts in nearly 10 years, but I found this copy way in the back. The cover's a little torn and it's missing the new chapters on inferi, but you won't be covering that as a second year anyway. There you go…"

Ellie took it. It was indeed looking a little worse for wear. She had a feeling that she was not the second owner, but more likely the fourth or fifth owner of this book. "How much?"

"For this old thing? Oh, let's call it a galleon."

Ellie beamed and brought the defence book to the register along with _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_. After counting out the galleons from her purse, she still had quite a bit left. She was tempted to run back and get the advanced potion book, but she supposed they must have it in the library so she resisted the temptation.

When she was done, Ellie and Yuki went to the Diagon Alley apothecary together to restock their stores. Yuki said, "Hey so you might have guessed this, but Phineas told me about what happened a few weeks ago…"

Ellie picked up a bottle of frogspawn and said, "Oh? And what did she say?" In his last letter, Phineas had sworn that he wasn't mad about it, but Ellie still felt guilty about getting him in trouble with Snape. Sneaking into Knockturn Alley had been his idea, but the potion had been all Ellie's.

"Just that you went to that apothecary, you know, the other one. And that Snape caught you and kicked you out… And also that Snape wrote a letter and said that Phineas owed him a detention his first week back."

"What?" said Ellie, "He didn't tell me that!"

"So Snape didn't give you one too?"

"Oh," said Ellie, trying to gather her thoughts. "No, he didn't."

"Wow he must really love you."

Ellie put the frogspawn back on the shelf. Snape had punished her plenty already, without adding a detention on top of it. And Snape had told her that she had to come to his office on Sunday, which might as well be a detention. "Come on, let's just get the ingredients and go."

Yuki looked like she wanted to talk about Snape more, but she was graced with brilliant tact and thus let it go. "I need a new winter cloak before we go home. Last stop, I promise."

Ellie waited on a long bench outside the clothing shop, watching the witches and wizards hurrying back and forth along the street. If anyone deserved a detention, she did. But instead of a normal punishment like that, she had to suffer through bureaucratic nonsense to register her spell and endure weeks of Snape nagging her. Overall, she would have preferred Phineas's situation.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the wizard who sat down beside her. Before she could acknowledge him, he asked, "have you mastered your wand yet, Miss Nihil?"

She was a little off put by his lack of greeting, but Ollivander had always struck her as a little odd, unbound by normal social rules. "Er, yes sir. It's fine now. Thank you for your letter last year, by the way. I think it helped."

The old man nodded and said, "Show me."

"Er, I'm still underage…"

"Nevermind that. Just show me the wand."

Despite not being allowed to use it, Ellie kept it on her out of habit. She was reluctant to hand it to the wandmaker, in case he decided to take back the gift, but she couldn't think of a way to say that without offending him, so she handed it over. Ollivander took it carefully, weighing it in his hands. He held it level with his eyes, slowly rotating it and observing every inch of it. He tapped it, stroked it, and gave it a twirl, but nothing happened.

"Oho!" he exclaimed, "A loyal wand! Denying even your creator, I see. As stubborn as your sister, then…"

"Sister?" Ellie asked, taking the wand back and quickly putting it away.

"Yes indeed. My father made a wand from the same tree, many years ago. Same tree, and same dragon if I am not mistaken. It was shorter than this one, thicker, and meaner. But I do see a similarity in their personalities."

This surprised Ellie, who had never seen an acacia wand other than her own and the two unsold ones that she had seen on her first visit to Ollivanders. "Whose wand is it?"

"An old witch, completely unimportant." he said dismissively, "But you could do great things with this wand, Nihil. Such loyalty from a wand is a great boon."

"Mr. Ollivander, how can you tell that it's loyal? Or powerful? Or… mean? Can you tell while you're making it, what it's personality will be?"

"Those are trade secrets, my dear, and are not lightly shared. But you know that, of course. I hear that you've been going around to used bookstores, buying up anything they have on wandlore."

"That's an exaggeration. It was just one book."

"Which book, hm? What book is missing from the Hogwarts library I wonder?"

The twinkle in his eye suggested that he already knew. Ellie said, "A foreign wandmaker's book… Gregorovitch."

"Bah!" said Ollivander, "That old fool. Still using kelpie hair cores, I'll bet. Still, he has made some great wands over the years."

"What's wrong with Kelpie?"

"It's a weak core. Fine for a weak wizard, but when you get real power going through that core it burns out, loses itself…"

Ellie wanted to ask more questions. There was so much missing from her studies, and she was sure that Ollivander could answer just about everything she wanted to know, but just then Yuki walked out. Ollivander stood up without speaking and walked off in the direction of his shop.

"Were you talking with Ollivander?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, a little. Let's get going, though. I don't want your parents to worry. How are we getting there? Floo powder?"

"Didn't I say? We don't have a fireplace. It's just like a normal muggle apartment. We'll take the underground."

 

Upon arrival, Ellie thought that it could be described as a normal muggle apartment, but it was nothing like any apartment she had ever seen. Sharing a dorm with three other girls and always wearing the same uniform, it had somehow escaped Ellie's notice just how rich Yuki was. The apartment was in the middle of a posh neighborhood, included two floors, and was decorated like something out of a Home Decor magazine. If it wasn't for the Japanese-style family shrine in the living room, Ellie might not have believed that it was Yuki's home.

Yuki's father welcomed them into the house eagerly and immediately offered to bring Ellie's trunk upstairs. "It's no trouble, no trouble at all! Come in, take off your shoes, take a seat. Midori - that is, Yuki's mother - will be home any minute. I have dinner almost ready."

Mr. Sasahara had a distinctly non-british accent, somewhere between Japanese and American, and he continued to shout pleasantries from upstairs as he hauled the heavy trunk. He only stopped when Yuki said, "Papa, please! Just let us relax for a minute."

Ellie had never been to a friend's house before. She wasn't quite sure how to act, but Yuki just flopped down onto the fancy couch and put her feet up, so Ellie tried not to look too stiff. As she looked around the room, she began to notice some things that made it obvious that wizards lived here. For one thing, there was no TV in the living room, but there was a large old-fashioned radio. And looking more closely, she saw that the standing lamp nearby wasn't plugged into anything, and that what she had taken to be a lightbulb was actually a floating orb of light, clearly fueled by magic.

There was also just the feeling of magic all around. She couldn't quite place a finger on it, but it reminded her of the feeling of the classroom after a double charms lesson. After thinking this over for a moment it suddenly occurred to her, "The smell of magic!"

"The what?" said Yuki, sitting up.

"The smell of magic! Waffling said that charms have a smell if they build up… how much magic do you have in this house? Most of Hogwarts doesn't even smell like magic."

"Oh, yeah. You mean this?" Yuki stood up and walked over to the nearest wall. She drew a symbol on it with her index finger then slapped the wall with a dull _thwack_. For a moment, the wallpaper glowed blue and Ellie could see a million tiny Japanese characters written over every inch of the walls and ceilings.

Just as quickly, the glow faded and the room was back to normal. "Whoa. What was that?"

"Protection charms, anti-muggle precautions, binding spells to keep all the magic from leaking out the window. You know, that sort of stuff."

Yuki said it nonchalantly, but Ellie could tell that she was proud of the charms there. They were obviously very powerful and probably took a long time to make. Ellie had never seen anything like it. "That's amazing. Did your parents do that?"

"That's more than a two-man job" said Mr. Sasahara, walking back into the room, "The whole family showed up to do it together. Even my grandmother, Yuki's great-grandmother, made the trip to help. Yuki was too young at the time, but it took us adults a good week to finish."

"Wow, Mr. Sasahara. I've never heard of anything like that before…"

"Westerners always underestimate the power of cooperative magic. But I can see you're not like that. Yuki told me you struggle with wand magic."

"Dad!" said Yuki, scandalized.

"No, no, it's a good thing," he said. "It forces you to think about magic more critically. But I actually just came in here to ask you girls to set the table."

While they laid out the plates, Ellie told Yuki, "Actually, I don't think I'm struggling with wand magic anymore. I sort of overcame it at the very end of last year after I… well I was alright during finals anyway."

Yuki quietly asked, "Are you ever going to tell me what happened? I get if you don't want to talk about it, and I'm not mad, I swear, but some of those rumors were… well I'd like to know what's true."

Deferring her decision, Ellie said, "Later, maybe."

A few minutes later, Yuki's mother arrived. She was an elegant business woman with pearl earrings, and Ellie could tell that Yuki got her tact and poise entirely from her mother. Mrs. Sasahara said, "It's wonderful to finally meet you, Ellie. We've heard so much about you. I hope I didn't delay dinner too much. There's a big gallery opening this weekend and I had a hard time getting away…"

Ellie looked to Yuki for some explanation. As much as Yuki had apparently told her parents about Ellie, she had revealed almost nothing about her parents to Ellie. Based on the what Yuki had said last year, Ellie had half expected her parents to be living in a Shinto Shrine somewhere, and she was having a hard time fitting the checked pantsuit into her previous concept of who they would be.

Mrs. Sasahara caught the look and said, "I work at a museum."

"Director of Asian Exhibits, " said her husband, proudly.

"Oh, I didn't realize that there were any magical museums in London."

Mr. Sasahara chuckled and explained, "It's not magical. Just an ordinary muggle museum. Not all witches isolate themselves from the muggle world, you know. The ministry discourages it of course, since some witches don't know how to keep their magic to themselves, but Midori is a force of nature. They couldn't stop her if they tried."

As everyone sat down and Mr. Sasahara began filling up their plates, Ellie said, "You grew up in Japan, right? If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn English?"

"Well, we studied it in school, of course," said Mrs. Sasahara, "and then we both went to University here in England. There's nothing like living in a foreign country to make you learn another language."

"Are there magic universities?” Ellie asked hopefully.

She replied, “No, we both studied at a muggle school. I studied History as an undergraduate then did my masters in Asian Studies. My husband studied political science.”

“Is that how you met?”

Mr Sasahara laughed again. He laughed a lot, Ellie noticed. “No, we’ve been friends our entire life. We grew up in the same area, and always went to the same school. I was always two years too young for her though until university. I actually followed her here to England after high school. I swear I had no interest in foreign matters until she left. I grew to love it here, though, obviously.”

“If you loved it, why did you go back to Japan?”

Mrs. Sasahara said, “Well I had responsibilities back home. My family has maintained the Shinzan Shrine since ancient times, long before it was named. As the oldest child in the Komachi family, I was supposed to take over. I did for a while, but fortunately my younger sister had more of an interest in it so eventually I was able to come back here."

“That was your reason,” said Mr. Sasahara, “I left because of he-who-must-not-be- named. Pure blood doesn’t mean much to him if you don’t have a wand.”

“He never said that, and you know it.” Mrs. Sasahara countered. “Anyway, I thought he had the right idea about some things.”

Ellie tried not to look shocked but failed miserably. She’d never heard someone openly defend Voldemort before, even in Slytherin House.

Yuki’s mother continued, “I don’t see why we should have to hide our powers from muggles just because of some ancient fear of witch hunts. There have always been sorcerers on the Oga Peninsula, and we have always lived in peace with our non-magical neighbors. Did you know that Japan didn’t sign the statute of secrecy until 1856? And we only did it because we were forced to by the American Wizards! We’d never had a problem before. We used to actually help the muggles who came to our shrine. We could heal them and give them real charms for protection and prosperity! They worshiped us. They gave us offerings, and in return we gave them magic. It worked that way for centuries, until western wizards forced us underground. The muggles still leave offerings at our shrines. Only now we aren’t allowed to help them, so we sell them fake charms as souvenirs so we can afford to maintain the grounds. It’s pathetic. But the Dark Lord wanted to bring us out of the shadows. There is so much we could do for the muggle’s good, if we were only allowed. We could be gods again.”

Ellie was overwhelmed by Mrs. Sasahara’s passion. She’d never really considered the idea before. Is this why people had rallied around the Dark Lord, even knowing his methods? Healing muggles certainly seemed like a noble cause. And according the muggle beliefs, they really were gods. Ellie had been so happy to hear that magic was real. She was sure that even if she wasn’t a witch herself, she would have wanted to know. Just imagine how muggles would react when they found out that there were thousands of wizards around the world who could actually answer their prayers.

Mr. Sasahara and Yuki looked uncomfortable, though. Ellie guessed that they had heard this speech before, and that there was more to it.

Mrs. Sasahara continued, “he wasn’t perfect, I know. But there are so few people who are brave enough to openly challenge the idea that wizards need to hide. You know how British politicians can be, Takashi.”

Attempting to change the topic, Yuki said, “My dad is the magical ambassador from Japan. It’s not a full time job, but he represents Japan’s interests whenever things come up.”

“Mostly I just go to parties and shake hands,” he said. “And lean on cubicle walls at the ministry. Sometimes they just need a reminder that wand-wielding brits aren’t the center of the universe.”

Mrs. Sasahara scowled and started eating again, clearly resenting the shift in conversation. Ellie thought that she might like to ask Mrs. Sasahara more about her ideas when Yuki wasn’t around. Reading the mood of the room though she asked, “did you work for the Japanese Ministry of Magic when you lived there?”

“That’s right! You should have seen the faces of those Mahoutokoro snobs when a wandless wizard like me showed up for the civil service exam. I was the first Oga wizard in nearly a century to represent my prefecture.”

“And the first ever ambassador to have not gone to the Mahoutokoro School!” Said Yuki.

"What's Mahoutokoro?"

Mr. Sasahara said, "That's the Japanese school of magic, like Hogwarts is here. It's ancient, of course, but my people, the natives of northern Japan, always taught magic our own way. Oga wizards didn't start going there until at least the Edo period, right darling?"

"1610. The same year the Japanese Magical Council became officially recognized in all provinces." Mrs. Sasahara said cooly, as if she was reciting a line in a textbook.

"I love being married to a Historian." The compliment made Mrs. Sasahara smile, and the tension of the previous conversation dissipated.

Yuki said, "Ellie loves history. I bet she could listen to you talk about this all day, but, well, I've heard it all before. Can't we talk about something new?"

"I have something new," said Mrs. Sasahara. "Or rather, something very very old, that I've only just discovered. I was doing some research with a Chinese colleague who found evidence that Chinese Monks had visited Oga as early as the 6th century!"

The others didn't immediately find this very exciting, so they waited for her to continue. "Previously, we only had records of written magic in Oga dating from the 8th century, but if Chinese characters were introduced in the 6th or 7th century, then we may have been using it much sooner. We may have even invented it! We'd always assumed that the tradition was introduced by southern migrants while they were pushing the Ainu North, but it may be the other way around."

She paused for the oohs and ahhs, but she seemed to be the only one who found this news groundbreaking. Even Ellie, who quite enjoyed history, didn't see the significance of when and where Japanese written magic originated. Slightly disappointed, she concluded, "In any case, we're planning an archaeological expedition there for next year."

"Is your colleague a witch too?" asked Ellie.

"She is. There aren't many magical historians, but we have a nice little network for sharing new information."

"Do you know Bathilda Bagshot?" asked Ellie. "She wrote our history textbook."

"We've met, but we're not close. She was great in her day, but she's been retired for a while now. Besides, she never had an interest in non-european history. My work wasn't worthy of her notice, I suppose."

There was a story there, Ellie thought, and Mrs. Sasahara clearly wanted Ellie to ask what incredible work she had done that was ignored by Mrs. Bagshot. But Yuki didn't want to hear the story again, so she changed the topic to Hogwarts classes and let the other subject die.


	4. Knotgrass

Ellie spent the next few days just hanging around the house with Yuki and her father, since her mom was working long hours every day. She explored the house thoroughly and tried to learn everything she could about the various magical items around the house. After Mr. Sasahara took an hour to teach her all the spells he'd put on his knife set to keep them sharp and prevent them from accidentally nicking his fingers, Yuki said, "Don't you ever stop studying, Ellie? This is our last day of vacation."

"A day where I've learned nothing is a day wasted."

"Why aren't you a Ravenclaw, again?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. It wasn't the first time Yuki had asked that. "Green is my color. Really brings out my eyes, don't you think?"

"Ok, ok. But let's do something fun before we go back to Hogwarts!"

Mr. Sasahara said sternly, "Finish packing first. Then fun."

Yuki sighed but acknowledged the wisdom in that, so she and Ellie went up to her room to finish packing. Ellie sat on the bed, trying to untangle a self-tying ribbon that Yuki absolutely refused to wear. While Yuki folded her robes, she said, "We're going back to school tomorrow, and you still haven't told me about what happened last year."

Ellie made no response, so Yuki sat down next to her on the bed and said, "Why don't I tell you what I know? I know that you went for a walk on your own at 3 PM, like you do every Sunday. There was a duel in the dungeons between Snape and Kamat, and somehow those three bullies who had called you a mudblood were involved. And some people claim you were there too, before the duel. Then you showed up with Dumbledore, Kamat hit you with a curse, Dumbledore hit  _ her _ with a curse, and Snape brought you and those 6th year assholes to the hospital wing. Obviously there's a lot here that I'm missing, and I'm sure that the presence of White and his cronies was no coincidence, but I just want to know one thing. Why did Kamat attack you?"

Ellie pulled at the ribbon in her hands. As soon as she got one knot out, it would try to tie itself into a bow again and ruin all her progress. She wanted to tell Yuki, but she didn't know where to start. She took a deep breath and started to say something, but her voice cracked and before she knew it she was crying.

Yuki wrapped her arms around her best friend and said soothingly, "It's ok, it's ok. She can't hurt you now."

Ellie shook her head and wiped her eyes. "It's not that. I'm not worried about her hurting me… She was right. She was right all along, and she was trying to stop me from hurting anyone else."

Yuki held Ellie at arms length with a mixture of concern and confusion in her eyes. Ellie continued, "I attacked those Slytherin boys. And I really hurt them, Yuki. If Madam Pomfrey wasn't there, they would - They would have…"

"But they attacked first, right? I mean, you would never… They'd threatened you before! Of course you'd defend yourself."

Ellie almost laughed. It was exactly what she thought Yuki would say. Instead of laughing, she said, "You don't understand. I used the stinging hex. Remember? That duelling spell I got in trouble for learning back in December? And I used another spell I had seen in that book, only I didn't know what it would do. I had no idea how it might hurt them but I used it against them anyway. And Kamat saw, so… so she stopped me. She used the disarming spell, I think."

Ellie didn't mention Kamat's other reason. No matter how understanding Yuki was right now, Ellie couldn't possibly reveal that she was a murderer. There was nothing she could do to make it right, and there was no justification for killing an elementary school bully.

Yuki insisted, "You used whatever spells you knew to defend yourself, and there's nothing wrong with that. But how did Snape get involved?"

"Oh, well I guess he heard us, so he came to defend me."

"Wow, I guess he does care about his students after all. Then what happened?"

"As soon as they started fighting, I ran to get Dumbledore, but he was already on his way, so I came right back and Kamat… well you know the rest of it better than me. I was unconscious."

Yuki took a moment to process this then said, "But why did you avoid me and Phineas?"

"I just didn't want you to look at me differently. Like I was, you know… dangerous. I'm not avoiding you now though. I just needed some time."

"Okay," she said gently, "But next time, can you please just talk to us? You don't have to work through this stuff on your own."

Ellie didn't work through it on her own, of course. Dumbledore and Snape had both helped in their own ways. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you tell Phineas all this? I don't want to go through it again. I just want to move on."

"Yeah, no problem." Then, jumping up, she said, "Let's finish this packing quickly so we can go out! There's a nice park nearby. We can do some muggle watching. You need to change, though. I swear you're the only witch our age who chooses to wear robes all the time. It's so old fashioned, Ellie."

"Muggle clothes aren't cool to me, remember? I always wore muggle clothes growing up. And everything I own is old and ugly, other than my school robes."

"Those are going to be old and ugly soon too if you keep wearing them all the time. You can borrow something of mine. Go on, take a look in the closet. I'm not bringing most of my summer clothing with me, since it's freezing at Hogwarts for most of the year."

Ellie opened the closet and was amazed by the variety of clothes there. "You have so many dresses! I always thought you were a bit of a tomboy, Yuki."

"You've seen me wear skirts before."

"No, I've seen you wear the same skirt, several times. Do you ever wear these sundresses?"

"I did when I was younger, but I think I've outgrown most of them. You're so tiny, though, I bet they'd fit you. Here, try this one. It's your color."

Yuki pulled out a dark green spaghetti strap dress and Ellie immediately put it on. "Do you think it's too short?"

"No way, you look so cute. If you want it, it's yours."

"Are you sure?"

"Like I said, it doesn't fit me."

Ellie admired the dress in the full length mirror. Without a doubt, it was the nicest piece of clothing she had ever owned.

 

Ellie worse the dress again the next day to King's Cross station. Unlike last year, She arrived early so that she and Yuki were among the first to claim a compartment on the train. They put their luggage in the rack and then came back out to the platform to say their goodbyes.

"Thank you again for letting me stay with you, Mr. Sasahara."

"We were happy to have you, Ellie. Feel free to come back any time. I'm sorry Midori couldn't be here to see you two off, but the big gallery opening is tonight and I'm afraid nothing would get done without her there."

"I understand. Please extend my gratitude to her as well, when you have a chance."

A little further down the platform, Ellie saw the Weasley family fussing over their children. Noticing Ellie, Mr. Weasley waved and jogged over to say hello. "Good to see you again, Ellie! I hope you enjoyed the rest of your summer." Then, turning to Yuki's father, "Sasahara, isn't it?"

Mr. Sasahara extended his hand and said, "I'm sorry, I don't believe I've had the pleasure, mister…"

"Arthur Weasley," he said, "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office."

"Ah, yes, I believe I have seen you around the ministry now that I come to think of it."

Mr. Weasley beamed at the recognition, and Ellie supposed that this is what Mr. Sasahara meant when he said that his job was shaking hands.

Yuki said, "Ellie and I are going to get on the train now, dad. I'll see you at Christmas."

They hugged goodbye, and the two girls left the adults on the platform. They were joined in their compartment by Phineas, Ben, and Tiberius just as the train began to move. Ellie thought that Tiberius looked much better than the last time she had seen him. She wanted to ask how his mother was doing, but didn't want to ruin his good mood so she decided to just wait and ask Phineas about it later.

Instead, she asked if Catherine would be joining them. They had sat together on the train in Ellie's first year, but Ellie had never really spoken to her again since they were in different houses and different years.

Ben scoffed and said, "Her? No way. She completely dumped us last year as soon as those Ravenclaw girls started tolerating her. She's a traitor."

Tiberius rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, or maybe we just grew apart. I swear ever since that Drama Queen stopped hanging out with us you've been trying to pick up the slack. You're not as good at it, Ben."

Ben clutched at his heart in mock horror and fainted dramatically across Ellie's lap. "Woe is me! My best friend in the world has mortally insulted me. How will I recover?"

Ellie gently pushed him off and he flopped onto the ground between the seats and played dead, complete with sticking-out tongue and awkwardly positioned limbs. Everyone laughed and Tiberius said, "Alright, we get it. You're an excellent drama queen. Now get off the ground."

Ben popped up and bowed to each of them while they applauded. "Who needs Cat? I'm entertaining enough for all of us."

"Still, I was kind of looking forward to sitting in a full compartment," said Phineas, "That empty seat makes it feel kind of lonely, doesn't it?"

Just then, the compartment door opened and someone said, "Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

Ben fell back into his seat with a snort and said, "Be careful what you wish for, Phin."

The girl in the corridor was wearing a lovely pink sundress and had her blonde hair pulled into some intricate braided updo, but no one could call her pretty. Her face and arms were covered in scars and pockmarks. It was like acne but a million times worse. After recovering from his shock, Phineas moved over and said, "Yeah, sure, we have an empty seat."

Yuki helped the girl get her trunk in the rack and they all sat down in the awkward silence that followed. After a moment, the girl said, "I'm Eurydice. Eurydice Jones. I'm a first year."

A quiet chorus of "nice to meet you"s and introductions ensued, followed by more awkward silence. When no one seemed inclined to start a conversation, Eurydice said, "I was supposed to start last year, so I'm the same age as you second years. I turned twelve in June." She let the unspoken question hang in the air for a moment and then continued, "I had spattergroit."

Ellie didn't know what spattergroit was, but Phineas scooted a little farther away from Eurydice so it couldn't be anything good. Eurydice noticed this and said, "Don't worry, I'm not contagious anymore. They wouldn't let me come if I was. I'm completely cured. Well…" she said, gesturing vaguely at her own face, "as cured as I'll ever be."

Ellie didn't know what to say. She gathered that the scars on Eurydice's face were a result of her illness, but "I'm sorry" didn't quite feel like an appropriate response, since Eurydice seemed perfectly cheery in the situation.

Eurydice continued bravely, "So… what were you talking about when I walked in?"

"Well, they'd just named me their royal leader, " said Ben.

"No we didn't," said Tiberius, "I just called you a Drama Queen."

This successfully dissolved the tension and they all carried on with a relaxed conversation about Ben's need to dramatize everything. Eurydice quickly proved herself to be easy to talk to and significantly more outgoing than Ellie, Phineas, or Yuki. They passed the day peacefully, keeping away from dark topics like Tiberius's mother and Ellie's run-in with Kamat. At Hogsmeade station, the five returning students crammed themselves into one horseless carriage and made their way up to the school.

To no one's surprise, Eurydice was sorted into Gryffindor the moment that the sorting hat touched her head. It took a lot of bravery to show up a year late to school with an array of horrifying scars and still smile at all the whispering strangers.

 

The next afternoon, she was reading outside by the lake with Phineas and Yuki, when Yuki suddenly said, "What are you still doing here, Ellie?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's Sunday! You always disappear on Sunday afternoons."

Ellie was not in the mood to talk to Snape, though. She just wanted to be a normal student for a while, like Phineas and Yuki. No one else had their parents around.

Phineas said, "Hey, speaking of Sunday afternoons, are you ever going to tell us what happened during finals week?"

Ellie closed her book, stood up quickly and said, "I'm going to go now." She also shot Yuki a significant look which she would hopefully take to mean, "please tell Phineas about it now so I don't have to."

Unthinkingly, she set off towards the castle. She wasn't really planning to go to Snape's office this time, but she didn't know where else to go. Once she was out of sight of the lake, though, she veered off in the direction of the greenhouses. It was too beautiful outside to waste the day in a dungeon.

Despite the sunshine, Ellie was in a dark mood. She didn't want to keep thinking about Kamat, but now that she was back on campus the thoughts just wouldn't leave her alone. It was ridiculous that she was even allowed to be there. She should have been expelled for what she did, self defence or not. She paused on the lawn for a moment and closed her eyes, trying to appreciate the warm sunlight on her face.

Kamat's face swam out of the darkness, in her mind's eye. She could see that mad, righteous flare in her eyes. The certainty that she was doing the world a favor by taking Ellie out of it.

She shook her head and tried to focus on the warmth. The left side of her face was hot from the direct light, but there was a breeze coming from the other side that tickled the hair on her arms and gave her a little chill.

She stooped to pick a little wildflower at her feet, and thought of the twin graves she had made and marked. Snape had been kind then. He'd been far too understanding. Who had he indirectly killed, Ellie wondered. Had he visited their graves? If she asked, would he tell her?

She almost turned around to go to his office and ask right away, but she hesitated. There was something about him demanding that she be there that made her really not want to go. 

Instead, she walked down toward the greenhouses. There was a lush outdoor garden as well, full of perfectly harmless magical plants. She stooped down to feel the smooth leaves of the knotgrass. It was strange to see it growing in a straight line in a garden when it grew wild in the area. It was more convenient than foraging for it in the Dark Forest she supposed, but she couldn't imagine why the school would need so much of it.

She wandered idly through the rows for a while, trying not to think about Snape waiting in his office for her, or Yuki and Phineas discussing her past misdeeds. To distract herself, she tried identifying each plant she saw and listing their uses in potion making. There were a few she didn't know, but for the most part it was an easy, repetitive thought process. She spoke to the plants, "Betony herb, medicinal, used to treat mad dog bites. Moly flower, eaten to counteract enchantments. Dittany, applied externally to stop bleeding, effective against magical bites and cuts. And, er, star grass, or possibly just grass. Actually that may not be planted there intentionally…"

As she lost her rhythm, she heard a crunch underfoot and she carefully lifted her shoe. She had crushed the stem of a tall tulip-like flower, and the bloom was dangling dismally by a thin green strand. It was the only one around and wasn't in line with anything else so she hadn't noticed it. She kneeled down between the rows of herbs and tried to prop it up again, but it seemed to have given up. 

She felt guilty. It must have been a beautiful flower, but now its petals were all bruised and the bloom was hanging off the stalk like nearly headless Nick. A clear liquid had formed a perfect little dewdrop at the site of the break, like a tear. Ellie pointed her wand at the flower and said, " _ reparo _ ," but the flower just twitched and drooped further. It occured to Ellie that that spell was not meant for living things. The garden of medicinal herbs around her seemed to by mocking her inability to fix even a flower.

A voice called out behind her, "Hey, you! Student! What are you doing there?"

Ellie turned to see Professor Sprout hurrying out of greenhouse three with some large shears in one hand and a wriggling vine in the other. The Professor slowed down when she reached the garden and said, "Oh it's just you, Nihil. What are you doing sitting down here all alone?"

"I just came for a walk, but I think I killed your flower. I was trying to fix it but I don't know how. I thought maybe that song you taught us last year…"

Sprout peered down at the flower and said, "No, that wouldn't do it. That's a growing song, not a healing song. In any case, this is a weed. Burrowing Tulip. You won't find it in 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi, because it's completely useless."

"Er, Professor? I think your vine is getting away."

Sprout tugged on the vine as it futilely tried to get some purchase on the grass at her feet. "While you're here, would you like to give me a hand? I'll give you a little preview of what you'll be doing in greenhouse three this year."

Ellie stood up and brushed the dirt from her knees, "I'd love to. Thank you, Professor."

She welcomed the distraction of trimming vines and massaging umbrella flowers for a while. The plants in greenhouse three were much more interesting and dangerous than the ones she had encountered last year, so they required her full attention. She got a small burn from a spitting firebush and Sprout's pet vine dumped a rather rocky clump of dirt on her head, but other than that she was rather pleased with her accomplishments. Before she knew it, it was getting dark.

While they walked up to the great hall for dinner, Ellie asked about the knotgrass in the garden. "I've heard that it grows wild in the Dark Forest, so I wondered why you were growing it here."

"Do you know what it's used for?"

"Well I've seen it in some potions books, but I've never used it. Let's see… Tongue Numb Tonic, Polyjuice Potion… oh, and Skele-Gro, allegedly, but that's a secret recipe."

Sprout laughed and thumped Ellie on the back. "I can always count on you to know the most obscure potions uses for any plant, but never the most common. What second-year knows how to brew polyjuice potion, I ask? No, no. It's used for knotgrass mead."

"Mead?" Ellie asked, "Is it magical?"

"No, simply delicious. I make it myself. Domestic knotgrass is much more suitable than the wild variety, in this case, hence the garden. Of course, I'll save some for Professor Snape's stores if he wants it. You can ask him for me."

Ellie grunted noncommittally. At this point, it was too late in the day to go to his office and there was no denying the fact that she was actively avoiding her Potions Professor. Or more to the point, avoiding her foster father.

The great hall was buzzing with conversation as they walked in and dinner was clearly already underway. Sprout said, "Thank you for your help today, Nihil. I think you've earned 10 points for Slytherin for all that trimming. And another 10 for correctly identifying just about every plant I had in there."

This lightened Ellie's mood considerably and she joined her friends at the Slytherin table with a slight smile on her face.

"Urgh, what were you doing?" asked Phineas, "Your hands are filthy. And is that gravel in your hair?"

Ellie grinned and grabbed a roll out of the basket anyway. "I was helping Professor Sprout in the greenhouse. And I earned 20 points for Slytherin, so you're welcome by the way. Just wait till you see the Umbrella Flowers she's got in there. They're  _ huge _ ."

A few seats down, Donna wrinkled her nose and said, "I don't care how many points you got. If you bring that cow dung stink into our room I'm moving."

"It's dragon dung, actually," Ellie snapped. "Which you would know if you ever listened in class. Maybe if you paid more attention to Sprout and less to your hair, you could actually earn points for our house for once."

The other second years nearby oohed in unison and Theo said, "Yeah, tell her Ellie."

Donna's face turned red and she said, "Who'd you learn personal hygiene from? Snape? Forgive me for wanting to look nice."

"Honestly, Donna, I'd rather smell like dragon dung than look like you."

Several people gasped and Ellie immediately regretted saying it. Donna was not a naturally pretty girl, and everyone knew it. She was always a little pudgy, no matter what she ate, and without copious amounts of hair product, her blond hair was as rough as straw. She'd told Ellie last year that she put so much effort into her hair and clothes because she couldn't stand the way she looked in the mirror without them. Ellie didn't look any better than Donna did, but the insult clearly still stung.

"Fine!" Donna spat, slamming her fork down. "Go play in the dirt, mudblood."

Donna stormed out of the hall and half the room turned towards Ellie to see what the commotion was. She put her head down and tried to ignore the stares, but Theo said, "That was a little harsh, Ellie."

Dropping her half-eaten roll, Ellie muttered something about not being hungry and left the table, with Yuki and Phineas following close behind.

After they were clear of the crowd, Phineas asked, "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think? I'm going to apologize to Donna."

"Even after she called you a mudblood?"

"Yeah, well I was kind of asking for it."

Yuki said, "I think you should apologize too. It would be hard to live with you two if you were fighting. But before you do…"

"What?" asked Ellie.

"Maybe you should take a bath."

Phineas laughed but Ellie only grimaced. Yuki made a good point.

After she no longer smelled like fertilizer, Ellie was relieved to find Donna alone in their room. She was feigning sleep, with the covers pulled over her head. Ellie sat down on the edge of Donna's bed and gently tapped her cocoon, giving her a chance to pretend to wake up, if she wanted to. Donna stirred slightly but didn't uncover her head.

"I'm sorry, Donna. I didn't mean to insult you."

"Well you did," came Donna's muffled reply.

"I know. And I'm sorry, ok? I know what it's like to be bullied for how you look. It's awful. I don't know why I said it. But I really am sorry, and I don't mean it at all."

Donna pulled back the covers and sat up. "You have no idea what it's like. I'd kill for your hair, even when it's full of dirt. And everyone's jealous of how skinny you are."

Ellie winced, "Trust me, your body type is way better."

Donna shook her head and said, "It's really not. I'd do anything to look like you."

Suddenly angry again, Ellie clenched her fist and said, "Too late. It takes a lifetime of malnourishment to look like me."

"Mal-nur-ish-what?"

"Seriously? Have you ever read a book? Malnourishment. It means I didn't have enough to eat growing up. Or at least, not enough of the right stuff. I'm alright now, eating at Hogwarts, but I'll be dealing with the medical consequences of malnourishment for the rest of my life."

Donna's eyes went wide, "I had no idea. Why didn't you say anything? All this time Sarah and I had been wondering what your trick was…"

"No trick. Just a decade of starvation. Do you accept my apology then?"

Donna extended her hand in truce and said, "Yeah, alright. And I'm sorry for calling you a mudblood."

"Don't worry about it."


	5. Bowtruckles

The next morning, the Slytherins were still discussing the fight from the night before, but Donna and Ellie showed up arm in arm and assured them that there were no hard feelings. Theo seemed a little disappointed by how quickly the drama was over, but Adrian was relieved.

"I need you on your A-game, Donna. We need to prepare for Quidditch tryouts this week."

"Come on," said Sarah, "second years never make the house team."

Adrian said, "Hey Phineas, can you put in a good word for us? I heard your cousin Flint is the new captain."

Yuki seemed shocked, "Tiberius? But he doesn't even play Quidditch."

Ellie replied, "No, I think they mean Marcus, Tiberius's older brother."

Phineas confirmed this and added, "I'll mention you if I see him around, Adrian, but I don't think it'll make a difference. He's going to pick the best players, and that's that. He always took Quidditch way too seriously, even when we were just kids on toy broomsticks."

Donna seemed scandalized, "I think that you don't take Quidditch seriously enough! You didn't even go to the games last year unless Slytherin was playing."

Phineas just shrugged. He and Yuki had skipped the games last year on Ellie's suggestion. Ellie had been supremely disappointed by flying when she had taken lessons last year. It didn't feel like she had imagined it would, playing on the swings as a kid. It just felt like she was clutching a floating stick and trying not to fall off. She didn't want to fly unless she was supporting herself. This slight resentment of brooms and her muggle upbringing left her with little to no interest in Quidditch.

As the meal finished up, Snape came around with the schedules. Ellie took it without meeting his eye, in an effort to delay an inevitable confrontation about her disappearance yesterday, but to her disappointment, they had Potions first. This left her with little time to think of an excuse.

Donna noticed Ellie's look and waited for Snape to move on before saying, "You're not upset to have Potions first, are you? You love Potions!"

Adrian smiled mischievously and said, " _I_ know why Ellie doesn't want to go to Potions. Right, Phineas?"

Ellie glared at Phineas and demanded, "What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything!"

"Ah ha!" said Adrian, "So it was you two! My Uncle Mal told me an interesting story this summer about -"

"That's none of your business!" interrupted Yuki haughtily. "Keep it to yourself."

"Oh come on," said Sarah, "he's just going to tell us later if you stop him now. Go on, Adrian. What did he say?"

Phineas and Ellie looked at each other and acknowledged the truth of this, so they let Adrian continue.

"Well, you know my Uncle Mal owns the apothecary in Knockturn Alley -" Donna started to say something complimentary, but Sarah shushed her. "As I was saying, he runs the apothecary. And he said that this summer, two Hogwarts students came in and tried to buy some poison, but Snape caught them."

"It wasn't poison!" said Phineas hotly. "It was venom."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Yeah, like that's any better."

"But how did you know it was us?" asked Ellie.

Adrian continued, "Because my Uncle wouldn't stop talking about how brilliant you were! He said you knew exactly what you wanted and what to use it for, and even argued with Snape about the best way to make whatever you were making. He was totally on your side, by the way. In any case, when he said you looked like a first year it wasn't hard to put together."

Ellie blushed slightly at the compliment, but still felt the need to clarify, "We weren't going to do anything bad with the venom, just so you know. I was trying to make liquid sunshine for an herbology project."

Like Phineas, everyone seemed to be put at ease by the pleasant-sounding name. Phineas, however, looked like he knew exactly what Ellie was trying to do.

"Come on," said Yuki, "we don't want to be late to his class with you two already in trouble."

 

In the potions Dungeon, Ellie sat as far from the front of the room as she could. For the first 10 minutes, Donna and Sarah kept turning around to look at her, waiting for some sort of confrontation to take place, but Snape put a stop to this by threatening to take points away unless they started paying attention.

Snape wasted no time welcoming them back to school and asking about their summers. He seemed to be in a really foul mood from the first minute, and Ellie was sure she knew why. The instructions appeared on the board and everyone began busily brewing their potions and dusting off their skills that had gone untouched for the summer. Ellie, of course, had stayed in practice. There was a definite benefit to living with Snape, even if there were also downsides.

Ellie and Yuki worked well together, quickly moving through the stages of the potion. With Snape already being mad at her though, she wasn't feeling particularly experimental, so it went slower than it could have. About halfway through the class, Yuki asked, "Do you have any, er, improvements, you want to make?"

Ellie considered plucking the wings off the fireflies, since they didn't have any significant benefits and they tended to cause uneven heating when they stuck to the sides of the cauldron, but the instructions clearly said, "10 whole fireflies" so she just shook her head. "Not today."

After Snape had checked on everybody else's progress at least three times, he came to observe Ellie and Yuki. Ellie saw Sarah nudge Adrian out of the corner of her eye and she suddenly became very self conscious. If Snape confronted her now, everyone would hear. She avoided his gaze and continued to grind her dried herbs into an ever finer powder.

Snape peered into the cauldron and asked, "How did you add your fireflies. Sasahara?"

Yuki glanced at Ellie nervously and said, "Well, just as a bunch. We counted them… 10 whole fireflies. Should… should we have added them one at a time, or…"

The whole room was listening intently, while simultaneously pretending not to listen. Lucy Abrahams dropped her spoon with a clatter and Olu hushed her surreptitiously. Ellie risked a glance up and found that Snape was staring at her, and quite ignoring whatever Yuki was saying.

He didn't seem angry. If anything, he looked as guilty as Ellie did, although she couldn't imagine why. Not breaking eye contact, he said, "Can you tell me, Nihil, what problem your potion is suffering from at the moment?"

Ellie hesitated for a moment then said, "uneven heating, sir."

He turned his gaze to the simmering potion and said more quietly, "And if I asked you to tell me the source of this problem, would you be able to tell me?"

Ellie nodded, but didn't elaborate. She was sure that Snape knew that the wings were the cause of the problem, And she knew that he knew that she knew as well. There was nothing more to say.

He said, so quietly that even Ellie had to strain to hear him, "Please stay after class, Ellie."

He turned back to the class and shouted, "Have you all finished your potions then? Get back to work! Anyone who isn't done by the end of the period will lose a point for their house."

Ellie tried to focus on her potion, but she was seriously distracted. Was Snape disappointed that she hadn't made a change that she knew would work? And what did he think of her skipping their weekly meeting for the first time yesterday?

In another first, Yuki stopped Ellie from making a mistake with their potion. She forgot to turn off the heat before adding the final ingredient, but Yuki caught the oversight in time and quickly extinguished the flames with her wand.

The potion they bottled for a grade was certainly among the best in the class, but among the worst Ellie had produced. True to his word, Snape took points from each of the three groups who didn’t finish in time, plus a few more when they complained about it. Snape was still yelling at one of them when the bell rang and Ellie made a split second decision to leave while Snape was distracted.

Yuki caught up with Ellie as she was hurrying down the hall and said, “hey, not to be nosy, but didn’t Snape tell you to stay after class? You could get in a lot of trouble for ignoring something like that, even if you are his favorite student.”

“I’m not his favorite student, not right now. I just… need some time before I talk to him, ok?”

Yuki seemed a little bewildered, and Ellie couldn’t blame her. Ellie’s stomach was tying itself in knots, trying to justify her behavior. In truth, she was just afraid of Snape. She’d disobeyed him this summer, disobeyed him yesterday, then done it again today. She knew that she was only making the situation worse, but she just didn’t want to face him.

“Can we please talk about something other than Snape, Yuki?” She asked.

Phineas ran up behind them just then and said, “how could you two leave me behind like that? Snape moved my detention up to tonight. The new defense teacher better not give us homework this afternoon or I’ll be behind on work on the very first day of class.”

Yuki asked, “Did Snape seem mad?”

“Yeah, of course he did, with Ellie running off like that. You should have seen his face when he realized Ellie already left…”

Ellie was almost in tears, “please stop, ok? I can’t deal with this right now.”

“Oh come off it,” said Phineas, “you’re not the one with a detention. If I ran off like that he’d take 50 points and put me in detention for the rest of the year.”

Ellie could imagine worse punishments. Like going back to the Children's Home next summer, for one thing. At the rate she was going, that seemed like a certainty.

In a completely transparent effort to change the topic, Ellie said, “So what do you think we’ll do in our first defense class? Have you heard anything about the new professor?”

Phineas sighed but took the bait, “I heard he’s pretty young, but he was an auror at the ministry, so he must know what he’s talking about.”

"Do you think he's old enough to have fought in the last wizarding war?" asked Yuki, "Kamat knew about it, of course, but she was teaching in India at the time so she didn't exactly have any interesting first-hand accounts."

"I dunno," said Phineas, "I guess we'll find out though. We're supposed to learn some dueling spells in our second year so it's bound to come up if he did."

They joined the other Slytherins for lunch and continued to discuss their anticipations for the coming class. With the last-minute booklist and her time with Yuki, Ellie had not had a chance to read any of the new textbook, so she was in for as much of a surprise as anyone else.

At one point, Donna tried to bring the conversation back around to Potions, but Phineas dutifully distracted her with talk of Quidditch. Ellie was grateful that while he felt entitled to grill her about her problem with Snape, he didn't think anyone else was.

At the start of the next class, Ellie once again found herself to be the center of unwanted attention. As soon as she walked in, a cluster of Gryffindors broke off their conversation, but she was sure that she had heard her name before they did. Her conflict with the previous Defence against the Dark Arts teacher was well known, and Ellie guessed that they were wondering if there would be a similar situation with the new teacher.

Ellie, however, was determined to be a model student. No more snide remarks or nuanced takes on the ethics of keeping dark creatures as pets or using forbidden spells in a duel. Whenever she decided to speak to Snape again, she wanted him to be proud of her decision. She would resist the dark arts more than he had, that was for sure.

So, when Professor Brightwell entered the classroom, she was ready, book on the table, quill out, wand in front of her, for any challenge he brought.

"Good afternoon, second years! Slytherin and Gryffindor, what a treat!" The rival houses glanced across the aisle at each other, but Mr. Brightwell seemed completely unaware that he had said something ironic or startling. "My name is John Brightwell, but you can all call me John if you like. As I'm sure you're aware, this is my first year teaching, so I hope you will all be easy on me while I learn the ropes! I see you all got the textbook I assigned. This is the same book that I myself used when I was your age, so I hope it will serve you as well as it served me. Now, let's get started. Who can tell me why trolls are so dangerous?"

He said it with such a bright smile on his face that Ellie thought it must be a trick question, so she kept her hand down. Everyone else seemed to have the same hesitation, so he called on a random student. "Jordan, isn't it? What do you think? Give it your best guess."

"Er, well I suppose it's because they eat people?"

"Very good! Now if all of you would open your books to chapter seven, and read with me about Trolls…"

By the end of the class, Ellie had pretty much gotten used to Professor Brightwell's cheery tone of voice, even when discussing dark and grisly matters. It was definitely a change from Kamat's style, but it was a welcome one for Ellie. This was shaping up to be a much less stressful class. On top of his positive attitude, he didn't give them any homework, so everyone left the class pretty satisfied.

 

That night, Ellie and Yuki waited in the common room until almost 11 for Phineas to get back from his detention. By the time he arrived, the fire was burning low and Yuki was falling asleep with her head on the table. She perked right up though as soon as Phineas came in.

"How was it?" Yuki asked, "Did he make you do anything awful? De-spike puffer fish? Sort flobberworms?"

"No, nothing like that. It wasn't bad at all, actually. I just hung herbs for drying and… and talked."

"Talked?" asked Ellie, "About what?"

"Er, you, mostly. He wanted to know how we ended up at the apothecary over the summer. He didn't interrogate me or anything, he just seemed curious. And he wanted to know if you'd said anything about him. Like why you're avoiding him. And also he wanted to know why you were acting weird in potions today."

"I'd like to know that, too," said Yuki.

Ellie asked nervously, "So what did you tell him?"

"Well I told him that liquid sunshine was your idea, but he knew that already. And I said I didn't know anything about the rest of it, which is true, because you never tell us anything."

"It's complicated…" Ellie said. Her two friends were waiting for her to say something more so she sighed and continued, "Snape is more than just a Professor. He was the one who first told me about magic, you know. And I think he feels responsible for how I do here at Hogwarts, as my head of house and my professor and…" She teetered on the edge of saying that Snape was her guardian. She wanted to say it. But in the end she said, "and as my mentor."

"So he cares about you." said Yuki. "That's a good thing. Why are you avoiding him?"

"He helped me a lot last year. He let me experiment with potions, he helped me practice wand magic, and most of all he helped me with the, er, Kamat situation. And then this summer I just went behind his back and betrayed the trust he'd put in me by using what he'd taught me to try to brew a dangerous potion."

"But this morning you told everyone that it wasn't dangerous," said Yuki.

"I lied."

Yuki raised her eyebrows and said, "Alright, I'm starting to see why you're avoiding him. But you're going to have to get over it eventually, you know."

"I know, I know. I'll talk to him after class next week, ok?"

Phineas seemed deep in thought. "I had no idea that you and Snape talked outside of class. When did he help you with the Kamat situation? And wand magic?"

Ellie slammed her hand on the table suddenly and shouted, "Merlin's beard! I forgot to tell you!"

A couple of 5th years studying by the fire looked over curiously, and Ellie hurriedly lowered her voice. "I figured out that spell I was trying to recreate last year. The one that made Ollivander give me my wand for free. Snape helped me with it. I registered it with the ministry and everything."

"No way!" said Phineas, "can you show us?"

Ellie pulled out her wand and whispered, " _Restinctio Lux_."

The tip ignited for a moment and the three of them were hit with the full power of the spell as they leaned in. Ellie cut the magic quickly, before they became too overwhelmed.

Yuki made a quiet exclamation in Japanese and Phineas smiled eagerly. "That's great!" he said. "Hey, remember when it took you a month to levitate a feather? Who knew you had it in you."

Ellie pointed her wand at the quill in front of her and said, " _Wingardium Leviosa!_ " it floated gently in front of her and she said, "See? No problem."

 

As it turned out, though, there was still a problem. In Transfiguration the next day, Ellie still struggled to turn her beetle into a button. Yuki, of course, managed to do it on her fourth or fifth try, earning her 5 points for Slytherin. Phineas got the hang of it about halfway through the class. Ellie was one of the last to figure it out, when the period was almost over. This was a huge improvement over last year, when she regularly failed to transfigure anything at all in her lessons, but it was still a little disappointing.

After lunch, Yuki comforted her by saying, "It's alright, Ellie. You just need to practice. At this rate of progress, I'm sure you'll be a transfiguration master by the end of the year."

"I hope not," said Phineas with a laugh, "I want to be better than you at _something_."

Yuki rolled her eyes and said, "If you spent as much time reading textbooks as you did reading novels, you'd be better than both of us at just about everything."

He considered this for a moment then shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nah, not worth it. It's not like grades really matter before our 5th year."

"I wish my parents had that attitude," said Yuki.

"Oh, please," said Phineas, "You wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than perfect, no matter what your parents thought."

"I don't always get perfect grades, you know." Yuki countered, "Unlike some people, I haven't memorized _1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi_."

Ellie winked and said, "I hope not. I want to be better than you at _something_."

 

The rest of the week blew by quickly. As usual, Ellie stole the show in Herbology with the Gryffindors, and she even managed to stay awake through almost all of her first History of Magic lecture. Charms was a struggle, but not quite as much as transfiguration. Flitwick complemented her progress, and even though she was still at the bottom of the class, his encouragement made her feel better. She felt pleasantly anonymous in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and Brightwell seemed to pay her no special attention.

She'd been planning to sleep in on Saturday, but Donna was up early to warm up for her tryouts, so Ellie ended up leaving the dorm early as well, since she couldn't get back to sleep. The feeling at breakfast was a little tense. There was only one chaser position open on the Slytherin team, and both Donna and Adrian were trying out for it. There were some older students with their brooms at the table as well who Ellie guessed were going to tryouts too, but all the second years were focused on the Donna vs. Adrian dynamic.

After the two of them left for the pitch, the remaining students openly debated their prospects.

"Adrian's a better flier than Donna," said Theo. "Did you see those stunts he pulled as a first year? I've never seen anything like it."

"Donna's stronger though," Sarah insisted, "How far could Adrian throw a quaffle, you reckon?"

"Speed is way more important than strength for a chaser." Matt countered, "Besides, Adrian's going to grow a lot in the next few years, if his dad's anything to go by. Flint's going to want to choose someone who'll be an asset in the long run."

Theo said, "If they were trying out to be a beater, I'd put my money on Donna. But they're not so…"

"Why don't we go watch?" asked Phineas, "We can cheer them on. Both of them."

Everyone thought this was a great idea, but Ellie had other ambitions for the day. She followed her friends out onto the grounds, but split off from the group to head down toward the forest, rather than to the Quidditch Pitch. She'd never been down that way before, but the gamekeeper's hut was clearly visible and quite easy to find.

Quite nervously, she knocked on the double-sized door. There was no immediate answer, and her nerves almost made her turn around again, but then a dog started barking and the door swung open. At first the huge man didn't seem to notice her, but then he lowered his gaze a few more feet and found her standing on the stoop, somewhat craning her neck to see his face.

Ellie had of course seen Hagrid at a distance before, but he was much more intimidating up close. He was easily twice her height and he looked like he could crush Ellie's skull in one giant fist.

"Who are you then? What do you want?"

"Oh," she said in a small voice, "I'm Ellie. I just wanted to ask you something. But if you're busy…" She suddenly hoped that he was.

"No, no, that's alright. Just took me for surprise is all. Students don't come down here too often."

A large snuffling dog was trying to get out between Hagrid and the doorframe, but Hagrid pushed it back and closed the door behind him. Ellie got out of the way as quickly as she could, and Hagrid led the way to a thick wooden table, covered in what looked to be empty crab shells.

Ellie said, "I'm sorry to bother you, Mr Hagrid. I just had a question about the dark forest, and I heard that you were the best person to ask."

He smiled slightly at the compliment, and Ellie could have sworn there was a bit of a blush there too. "Sure, no one knows the forest's creatures better than me."

Feeling more encouraged, Ellie said, "I've read that there are some bowtruckles that live in the forest."

"Sure, they're loads of them, if you know where to look. But what do you want to find bowtruckles for? You're still too young for care of magical creatures, aren't you?"

"I'm actually more interested in the trees they live in than the bowtruckles themselves."

"Interested in trees or interested in wood?" he asked shrewdly.

"Alright, so I'm interested in the wood. I can't afford to buy high quality wood from a tree farm, but I thought that if I could find a tree here… I would just need a few branches, for now. I wouldn't cut down the whole tree. I know the bowtruckles wouldn't like that..."

"What are you planning to do with the wood?"

"Well… I'm trying to make a wand."

Ellie thought that he might laugh. Yuki had laughed when Ellie told her about her plan. Wandmaking took a lifetime of study, and she'd never heard of anyone who was self-taught. But after buying Gregorovitch's book, she couldn't shake the idea. She had to at least try.

Hagrid didn't laugh, though. He adopted a contemplative look and drummed his fingers on the table. Ellie waited patiently for him to speak. Eventually, he said, "Alright. I'll help you find a tree, if you want. And I've got something else for you too. Wait here a minute."

He disappeared into his hut for a while and came back with a bundle of silvery something. "Unicorn hair. You'll be needing a core, I'd imagine."

Ellie gasped, "Where did you get this? Unicorn hair is really rare."

"There are plenty of unicorns in the forest. The hair falls out, gets caught on branches and things. You should see some of the bird nests in there. Fit for a king, they are, with unicorn hair woven in."

Hagrid put the small bundle on the table. Ellie guessed that she could make a half dozen wands from the hair there. Since she was sure to get it wrong on the first try, this was great news. "Thank you so much, Mr Hagrid. I don't know how I can repay you.”

“No need, no need. Happy to help. Let’s go find a tree.”

“What, now?”

“No better time.”

“I thought students weren’t allowed in the forest.”

“If you’re with me it’s alright. It’s dangerous to go alone, but the creatures in there respect me.”

Hagrid went into his hut again and came back with a wriggly bag of something and an axe nearly as tall as Ellie. He held up the bag and said, “Woodlice, for the bowtruckles. Come on, you’ll want to be back for lunch.”

Ellie jumped up and followed Hagrid into the forest. As they walked, it got darker and darker, until she could hardly tell that it was daytime anymore. Ellie thought that the name of the forest was well earned.

Hagrid seemed completely unafraid, though. As they walked, he pointed out things of interest beside the path. There, he said, was the hoofprint of a centaur. And over there, the burrow of a red-eared badger. And in the middle of the path, a snargaluff. Best give it a wide berth.

After 20 minutes or so the path seemed to disappear, and they struck off to the left. She stuck close to Hagrid, because she was sure that she would never be able to find her way back without him.

Quite without warning, they emerged into a grassy clearing. The ancient trees around it seemed to be leaning back from the isolated meadow, like some force was keeping them at bay. In the very center of the clearing, there were three large English Oaks, basking in the sunshine and rustling their leaves.

Ellie did not need Hagrid or bowtruckles to tell her that this was a magical place. She could feel it all around her. With a sudden certainty, she said, “Mr Hagrid, I think you should leave the axe here.”

“How do you expect to get wood without an axe?”

“I… I think I’ll try asking first. Can you give me the woodlice?”

“You sure you don’t want me to do it? Bowtruckles can be very violent if they feel threatened.”

“I think I can handle it.”

Taking the bag, Ellie walked slowly to the middle of the clearing. The tree closest to her had a thick low-hanging branch that was already drooping toward the ground, so she chose that as her target. She scattered some woodlice on the ground on the opposite side of the tree and settled down to wait.

Slowly at first, and then more quickly, the shy bowtruckles came down from their tree to feast. At her distance, they just looked like little twigs dancing through the grass. When she could no longer see any movement toward the lice, she deemed it safe to continue.

She put her hand on the tree and whispered, “I’m going to take this branch now, if it’s alright. I’ll try not to hurt you.”

No bowtruckles attacked her and she didn’t feel any hostility from the tree, so she took out her wand and pointed it at the juncture between the trunk and the branch and began to chant an incantation.

Last week, Sprout had shown her how to combine a growth charm, a control charm, and a severing charm to trim her more aggressive vines without upsetting them. This branch was ten times the thickness of one of those vines, but she hoped that the theory would still apply.

As she muttered the words, the tree began to grow. The existing branch moved outward at a rate of inches per minute, but the new growth by the trunk got narrower and narrower, like it was a length of clay being squeezed in a fist.

Ellie planned to use a severing charm to separate the branch when it got narrow enough, but before she reached that point, the weight of the branch became too much for the thin wood and the branch fell with a loud crack.

Ellie hurriedly backed up a few paces in case the bowtruckles were disturbed, but they still seemed suitably distracted. She looked at the wound on the tree and found that it wasn’t bad. It had made a clean break at the thinnest point, and there were only a few square inches of the white inner wood showing. With a few more words and a wave of her wand, she made the bark grow over the naked cut. She placed her hand on the trunk again and thanked the tree profusely.

The branch looked too heavy for her to lift, but she thought Hagrid could manage it if she could just get it to the edge of the clearing. With considerable effort, she levitated the branch and brought it wobbling through the air back to the dark forest.

Once there, Hagrid stripped the small leaves and branches from the limb, hoisted it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing, and started to lead the way back.

"That was very well done, Ellie," he said, "Much neater than an axe, though I still say the axe would have been quicker."

"In any case, it's done now. How did you know about that place, by the way?"

"Oh I'd say I know most of the forest pretty well by now. Look, here's the path again."

As they walked down the broadening path, Ellie suddenly felt something swoop over her. It was an odd sensation, not quite cold, but like the shadow of a cloud passing over. "Did you feel that?" she asked, peering into the gloom ahead.

Hagrid hushed her and put the branch down so he could lift his axe in both hands. Ellie took out her wand and pointed it down the path. With the closely packed trees and the twisting nature of the track, she couldn't see very far ahead. But now that they were standing still, they could definitely hear something out there in the darkness moving towards them. There was the frequent sound of sticks snapping under foot or paw or possibly hoof, and whatever it was, it was moving fast.

When the sound seemed to be just around the bend, Ellie saw the distinctive blue-white light of the _lumos_ charm, which banished her thoughts of monsters and angry centaurs, but did not immediately assuage her fears. The wizard ran into her line of sight and stopped short. In the light of his wand, Ellie recognized him.


	6. Special Treatment

Snape was in his office, testing the potions that his 7th year students had finished yesterday, when the nanny disc on his desk began to glow. His first reaction was fear, but it was quickly replaced with anger. Barely a week into term and Ellie was out there looking for trouble again.

Unlike this summer, he wasn’t certain where she had gone. He’d checked the used bookstore in Knockturn alley first, then Borgin and Burke’s, then found her in the apothecary, which was no great surprise. He knew Ellie’s interests well at this point.

Finding her at Hogwarts would be trickier. There were a lot of places that were forbidden to students here. He knew that she was within the grounds, because the power of the disc would be blocked by the protections around the castle, so that ruled out Hogsmeade.

Since it was close, he checked his own private potions stores first, then headed up to the library, thinking that she might have gotten into the restricted section somehow. But as he walked, the light of the disc flickered and faded. Either she was back where she was supposed to be, or she’d left the grounds.

He suddenly thought of the forest. The near edge was forbidden, but within the protected area of the school. But if she’d gone too far, she would be outside that protection…

He decided to check. If he was wrong, then she was already safely back where she belonged. But if he was right, then she was likely to run into something dangerous before long. His stomach lurched at the thought of her out there, alone, facing down an acromantula or a centaur or some dark trap that lay waiting for an unwary wanderer.

He walked as quickly as he could through the castle without drawing attention to himself then broke into a run once he was closer to the tree line. Not for the first time, he cursed the restrictions that made him unable to apparate within Hogwarts.

He hesitated for a moment on the edge of the wood, wondering what path she would have taken, if any. Over the years, he’d become somewhat familiar with the widest and most clearly marked trails near the edge of the woods, but would be lost further in. Hoping for the best, he charged on down the route he knew and tried to remember a locator spell that might be useful.

After little while, when he was past most of the castle's protections, he took out the disc and found that it was glowing again. So she was out here somewhere. He murmured  _ lumos  _ and began to search the path for signs of her passage. The thick layer of leaves and pine needles along the path seemed to have been disturbed recently, but that didn’t mean much out here. The forest was teeming with life, and he’d rather not meet most of it.

Pointing his wand at the gloom ahead, he said, “ _ hominum revelo _ .”

The spell confirmed that there was someone human up ahead, and they were close. He walked quickly down the path, wand out, his anticipation growing with every step.

He stepped around a large tree and pulled up short as he suddenly came upon his target. Ellie was standing in front of Hagrid with her wand pointed at Snape. Behind her, Hagrid had a large axe lifted as if to ward off an attack. A small part of him was relieved to find that she was not alone, but a larger part was furious that she was the first line of defence, if it had been something other than Snape coming down the path towards them.

Ellie lowered her wand slightly and asked nervously, "Snape? What are you doing here?"

The audacity of the question momentarily rendered him speechless. He sputtered, "What am I doing here? What am  _ I _ doing here? I am a Professor and an extraordinarily capable wizard and can go wherever I please. What are  _ you _ doing here, young lady? Don't you know how dangerous this place is?"

Hagrid lowered his axe and said, "Now, now, Professor, It's alright. She's with me, see? No danger at all."

"It is not for you to decide where Ellie is or is not safe," Snape replied, pointing his wand at the great lumbering fool. Recognizing the threat for what it was, Hagrid gulped and took an involuntary step back. 

"Let's not get carried away, Professor. She's not hurt or nuthin'," said Hagrid cautiously, "Why don't we all go back to my house and have a nice chat about it, alright?"

"I have no interest in visiting that filthy hut of yours," Snape sneered, "But make no mistake, this conversation is not over. Come with me, Ellie."

Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he turned around and headed back down the path. He could hear Ellie scurrying to keep up behind him, but the characteristic stomping of the groundskeeper was absent. He tried to let his head cool a little before beginning a conversation with Ellie, but he was finding it hard to control his anger as he walked between the old trees and kept his eyes out for danger.

When they were close enough to the edge of the forest that Snape was no longer worried, he said, "These woods have a dark reputation, Ellie. I don't know what could have possibly possessed you to come out here, but I am very disappointed in you. You keep promising to behave yourself, but every time I turn around you are out looking for trouble again. It was reckless and stupid and you should consider yourself very fortunate to be getting out unhurt."

"I wasn't looking for trouble!" she said defensively. "I was looking for wand-quality wood. Where else was I supposed to find that? Besides, I was perfectly safe with Hagrid."

Snape scoffed, "Oh really? And what exactly would that wandless oaf have done to protect you?"

Without missing a beat, she stubbornly insisted, "I can protect myself."

Snape whipped around and shouted, " _ Expelliarmus! _ " causing Ellie's wand to spin out of her hand. He caught it deftly and handed it back immediately, saying, "Obviously not. And I wouldn't expect you to be able to, at your age. Which is why the school has rules to protect you."

"It wasn't against the rules if I was with Hagrid!"

They were nearly at the treeline now, and Snape could see Hagrid's hut through the gaps in the trees. He extinguished his wand and sighed heavily. "You need to stop toeing the line like this, Ellie. You may escape punishment based on a technicality like that, but it can't protect you from the very real dangers that warranted the rule in the first place!"

"So you aren't going to punish me, then?" she asked with surprise.

"When have I ever punished you for anything? All I ask is that you act smart and stay safe." He stopped and turned to the girl. Sternly, he added, "I am getting tired of asking, though, Ellie."

To his surprise, Ellie burst out angrily, "Why can't you just treat me like a normal student? Take some house points! Give me detention! You have no right to tell me what to do with my life. If I want to make a wand, I'll do what I need to and use any loophole I can find. And if I want to brew a perfectly legal and, yes, potentially dangerous potion, I'll do that too! I'm not going to put a hold on my interests and education just because you're a meddlesome old worrywort!"

Snape recoiled from her words. Softly, he said, "No right? Do you really want to be nothing more than a normal student to me?"

Ellie paused and gathered her resolve. Looking him right in the eye, she said, "Yes. It's not fair that you can stalk me with that nanny disc thing when everyone else at Hogwarts can go wherever they want. I want to be treated like a normal student."

"Fine!" said Snape viciously, taking the still-glowing disc out of his pocket and throwing it on the ground. "The next time you put yourself in a dangerous situation, I won't know, and I won't be there to help. 10 points from Slytherin for being in the forest, and another 10 for your tone of voice."

"That's not fair!" Ellie protested.

"Oh no? It's what I would do for anyone else. You're lucky I'm not taking more. I've let you get away with more than any other student I've ever taught. You'll soon see that for yourself. I won't spend all day waiting for you in my office this Sunday. You'll come if you have detention, and you'll come when you're told. I'm sure it won't take long for you to earn a detention at the rate you're going, so I'll be seeing you soon."

Snape wanted to stop talking, but he was angry. If Ellie wasn't grateful for everything he had done for her, then he wasn't going to do any more.

"One more thing," he added, "There will be no more experimentation in my class. I expect all my normal students to follow instructions, as written. Good day, Miss Nihil."

His robes billowed around him as he strode off towards the castle, leaving Ellie to find her own way back. He thought that Ellie's last expression held a flash of anger as well, and he was not going to give her the opportunity to test his declaration that he would treat her like a normal student. If anyone else challenged his authority like that…

He was seething. How could she be so ungrateful after everything he had done for her? From helping her with transfiguration and teaching her how to bind a spell to rescuing her from an abusive home and consoling her on her darkest days. After all of that, she suddenly had the nerve to ask to be treated like a normal student. Like his protectiveness was a punishment, and not a gift.

As he marched back into the castle, he could feel a vein pulsing in his forehead. He wondered if Ellie was angry at him too right now, and if it was more about losing points or losing, for want of better word, a parent. Then again, she might just be relieved to be getting what she wanted. She'd lived her whole life without a father, and maybe it took her a year to realize she didn't need one. Snape could sympathize with that.

He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he nearly ran into Professor Aurora Sinistra as she was leaving the building.

"Careful, Severus," she said, "and aren't you going in the wrong direction?"

When Snape gave no sign of understanding this statement, she continued, "You said that you would join us for drinks at the Three Broomsticks this afternoon. I do hope that you're not going to cancel again. Septima would be terribly insulted."

He considered making some excuse, but then again he could use a drink. Sighing and heading back to the door he had just entered, he said, "Fine, I'll come. But I can't stay too long. I've got some grading to finish before the potions start to turn."

Sinistra nodded and said, "I would expect nothing less from our illustrious Potions Master." 

They walked toward the magical village of Hogsmeade in silence. Snape had always appreciated that about Aurora. She was good at making conversation when the occasion called for it, but she was equally comfortable in silence. He supposed it was a natural trait for an astronomer who spent most of her time studying the stars while everyone else was asleep.

When they arrived at the pub, Septima Vector was already waiting at a table with John Brightwell, who eagerly waved them over.

Snape whispered, "You didn't tell me that  _ he _ would be here."

"Play nice," she whispered. Then, more loudly, "Hello John, Septima. Thanks for saving us seats. Have you ordered yet?"

"Not yet," said John, "we were waiting for you." He pulled out the chair next to him and gestured for Aurora to sit. 

Madam Rosmerta came over to take their orders and then John and Septima resumed their conversation.

"I was just telling Professor Vector about my first week of classes. I think it went quite well! All the students are so bright and respectful. I think that this is going to be a great year."

Snape was a little surprised to hear that John found the students respectful. Snape always felt that it was hard to earn their respect. If he let his guard down they would immediately start goofing off or mouthing off or otherwise detracting from the class. And John looked like a doormat teacher if he'd ever seen one. It would be hard to give this smiling Hufflepuff cheek though, now that he thought about it. It would be like kicking a puppy.

"I always look forward to my third year classes the most," said Septima, "new batch of students and all that. It's a shame I only get to know my own students though. You three work with every student that comes through the school."

"I don't know about that," said Aurora, "I only see them for an hour or so a week. If I'm being honest, I don't even know most of their names unless they reach NEWT levels."

John laughed and said, "Well that makes me feel a little better. Suddenly having to memorize hundreds of new names is overwhelming. How many do you know, Severus?"

"All of them, of course." he replied, not even feigning humility. "First and last name. Though I do forget the less interesting students after they graduate..."

"Wow," said John, "I can see why they made you head of house."

"I'm the only Slytherin on staff," he replied dryly. 

Aurora laughed lightly, "Don't bother with flattery, John. Severus doesn't know how to take a compliment."

Snape was saved from responding to this jab by the arrival of food and drinks. When all the plates were sorted out, the others began talking about their favorite students. Aurora talked about a seventh year student who had been a part of an expedition this summer to observe the Northern Lights. Septima spoke of two third-year Ravenclaws who seemed particularly interested in the study of Arithmancy and had stayed for an hour after their first lesson, asking deep and interesting questions.

John was positively gushing about Eurydice Jones' performance in their first lesson. "I thought she might have some trouble, you know, having just recovered from a major illness, but she was just wonderful. Such confidence, answering any question I threw at her!"

Snape had been less impressed with her performance in potions. She'd failed her first assignment about as badly as everyone else did, and showed no signs of understanding how or why she went wrong. It was too soon to say, of course, but he thought that she would need to put in a lot of effort if she was going to get anything out of his class. She had no innate talent for it, and good instincts were what really carried you far with potions.

"What about you, Professor Snape?" asked John.

Snape had zoned out and missed the question. "What about what?"

"Did any of your students do anything interesting this week?"

Snape pushed down thoughts of Ellie searching the Dark Forest for wand wood. He said with a shrug, "Just the usual incompetency. Melted cauldron in a third year class. A cure for boils that looked and smelled more like stinksap by the end of the lesson."

John said jovially, "Well you never wasted any time in challenging your students. A cure for boils in the first week? That's as good as a bludger to the face after two months of summer sun. I'm sure I couldn't have done it right."

"No, I'm sure you couldn't have," Snape replied coolly before taking a sip from his drink.

John seemed at a loss for words. He realized that he had just been insulted, and hoped it was a joke, but he couldn't seem to think of an appropriate quip in response. Septima and Aurora hid their smirks in their drinks as well.

Snape confirmed his suspicions. John did indeed look like a kicked puppy. Brightwell forced a smile and said, "Well, I suppose that's why you're the potions master! It never was my strong suit at Hogwarts, or in auror training. I did alright though, didn't I? Got my NEWT!"

He was fishing for a compliment, but Snape didn't take the bait. "Somehow, yes."

"It was all thanks to your excellent teaching, I'm sure." replied John, desperate to please.

Snape just said "hmmm" and took another sip from his drink.

"Like I said," interjected Aurora, "don't bother with flattery. He already knows how good he is, and nothing you say with change his self perception either way."

Snape said, "Are we going to have an interesting conversation at any point? Or is it going to be nothing but polite nonsense and teacher meetings."

John asked brightly, bouncing back like the eager puppy he was, "What sort of interesting things do you usually talk about?"

Sinistra waved her hand vaguely and said, "Oh, you know, breakthroughs in our respective fields. New spells and books to add to the curriculum. What was that debate between you two last year?"

"It wasn't a debate," said Aurora, "a debate implies rational arguments on both sides. As the expert in the field, I can confidently say that Astronomy has absolutely no relevance to divination. The whole study of so-called astrology is sheer nonsense."

"Oh, not this again." said Snape, "Just because you failed divination, it doesn't make the whole field worthless. Centaurs have been seeing the future in the stars for thousands of years. Are you honestly telling me that they've been wasting their time? I know, of course, that our interpretations may be flawed, but that should motivate further study not cause you to throw the whole subject out the window."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "Next you'll be telling me that you believe in prophecy."

Septima said, "There are hundreds of accounts of genuine prophecy. Surely you can't think they're all frauds."

Snape, of course, knew that prophecy was real, although he wished with all his heart that he had never found that out. He resented Sybill more than just about anyone else at Hogwarts, but he still felt compelled to defend her and her subject. It was imperative that she stay at Hogwarts, for Harry's safety. It would be dangerous to have her wandering loose around the country, even if she couldn't remember anything herself.

"Well Sybill certainly hasn't given me any confidence." Aurora said haughtily.

John gasped, "You shouldn't talk about a fellow teacher that way!"

"You never took divination, did you?" said Aurora. "It's all a bunch of waffle, in my opinion. You'll see what I mean if you ever talk to that supposed seer for more than two minutes. Honestly, have you  _ met _ Sybill? She'll prophesize your imminent death three days in a row, then turn around and tell you you're destined to grow old in a seaside cottage with your true love."

"But still…" he said weakly, "talking behind her back is a little…"

Snape smirked and asked, "Would you like to know what we say about you and your subject when you're not here?"

"Stop that, Severus." said Septima.

"No, he should know." said Snape, leaning forward. "Self awareness is important. I know what people say about me. Do you know what they say about you, Brightwell?"

Brightwell grimaced slightly, "I can guess. Too young, too inexperienced..."

"Good, so you do know. Perhaps you should work on getting some experience, then."

Brightwell could find nothing to smile about there. They were all distracted, though, when a crowd of wizards and witches entered the pub.

"Oh joy, the school governors." said Aurora.

Sinistra muttered, "Meddlesome socialites."

Snape did not share their views. The governors had been known to overstep their bounds from time to time, but Snape thought that it was right for the school to have something to balance out Dumbledore's will. And one of the governors, Lucius Malfoy, was someone who he considered to be a friend. They had both survived their time in the Dark Lord's ranks, and found their feet again when he was gone. They never spoke of it. They wouldn't dare. But Snape was comforted by Malfoy's continued success. It gave him hope that his own life would not need to be defined by his past forever.

Lucius noticed the table of teachers when he came in and walked over to greet them. "Good afternoon, Severus. It has been too long." He nodded to the other teachers in turn, rather coldly. "You must be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

John stood and respectfully offered his hand. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure, mister…?"

"Malfoy." Lucius replied disdainfully, ignoring the proffered hand. "Why don't you join us, Severus? There are a few people I would like to introduce to you."

Any request from Lucius should always be treated like an order, but Snape was happy to oblige regardless. Vector and Sinistra could make good company at times, but Snape was not enjoying Brightwell's presence. His incessant cheeriness was exhausting and he seemed entirely too unconcerned with the fact that he was unqualified to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Snape finished his drink and followed Malfoy to the cluster of wizards and witches just sitting down.

"A few of the governors were lamenting the fact that they hardly got the chance to meet anyone currently employed at Hogwarts, other than Dumbledore," said Lucius, by means of explanation. "It is fortunate you are here."

It was clear that Malfoy did not consider the other teachers he was with to be worth introducing. Astronomy was not a highly regarded class among the pureblood elite, due to its reputation as a career for squibs, and Arithmancy, while well respected, was not one of the core classes at Hogwarts. And Snape guessed that Lucius found Brightwell as pathetic as he did, regardless of subject.

“Gentlemen, ladies, this is Professor Snape, potions master of Hogwarts.” Said Lucius courteously.

There were 7 people at the table, a little more than half of the school governors. Snape recognized some of the older ones from previous meetings and social events, but there were indeed some new faces. Snape sat with them as they introduced themselves and explained their roles as school governors.

There were two men in their 40s who never had children but were very invested in the education of Hogwarts students, as they ran the Healer training program at St. Mungo’s. Another wizard had recently retired from his role at the ministry and was just doing this as a way to fill his time, and at the request of some ministry colleagues who wanted to see their interests represented at Hogwarts.

The last person to be introduced was a witch who looked to be just a few years older than Severus. “This is Ms. Medea Jones,” said Lucius, “She joined us three or four years ago, so I’m actually a little surprised you haven’t met yet.”

“It’s no surprise really,” said Ms. Jones. “I’ve been too busy to do more than the minimum at the school. But now that my daughter has started here, I’m trying to take a more active role.”

Snape realized that this must be the mother of Eurydice Jones. Dumbledore’s request to take special care of the girl made more sense now. Jones seemed like an extraordinarily meddlesome parent who would cause no end of grief if she found out that the school allowed her precious daughter to be mistreated.

Snape had not been impressed with Eurydice’s first attempt at a potion and he was sorely tempted to comment that Jones would have served her daughter better by teaching her something about potions before her enrollment at Hogwarts, rather than attempting to curry favor with the headmaster. Lucius seemed to like the woman though, so Snape held his tongue.

Instead, he politely acknowledged the introduction. Madame Rosmerta came by a moment later, and Snape took the opportunity to excuse himself.

"Please, stay and have a drink with us!" said the old retiree.

"Not today, I'm afraid," replied Snape. "I still have some work to do up at the school, and I am in need of my full mental capacities."

Lucius said some pleasantries that Snape couldn't quite believe about getting in touch the next time he was in town. They got on well, and Snape appreciated his company, but Lucius never talked to anyone unless there was something he wanted from them. They would reconnect when Snape had something to offer him. It would be soon, though, he thought. Lucius's son would be starting at Hogwarts in a year, and Lucius was sure to be employing the same tactics as Ms. Jones. 

Snape picked up where he had left off with his grading back in his office. At least, he tried. He was finding it hard to concentrate, which was a dangerous situation if you were handling incorrectly brewed potions that were liable to cause unexpected damage under unpredictable conditions. The trip to Hogsmeade had been a pleasant distraction, but back in his office, he couldn't stop thinking about Ellie.

As he tried not to think about it, he would be struck by alternating waves of anger, guilt, and sheer misery. After breaking a vial and causing irreparable damage to his desk, he finally gave up and retired to his apartment for a more literary and less explosive distraction.

He didn’t think that he had been unreasonable by going to find Ellie today. She was being reckless and not thinking about dangers again. Like her trip to knockturn alley, she was going out of her way to associate herself with Dark Magic. He did regret throwing away the nanny disc though. He could get another, of course, but that would only insult Ellie further.

It was true that he wouldn’t have cared much if it was another student going into the dark forest. Most students found a reason to go in there at some point. But then again, most students weren’t on the watch list of a powerful, albeit nominally retired, auror. And Dumbledore wouldn’t like it. 

Ellie had knowingly gone against his warnings, even going so far as to avoid his request for a meeting two days in a row. She was being stubborn and willful. She’d never really apologized for this summer, except for a superficial apology so she could go visit her friend. She wasn’t a bad kid, but she was shaping up to be a real troublemaker if Snape didn’t do something about it. Wasn’t that part of his role as a parent?

His justifications for his actions held true, and he was satisfied that he was not in the wrong, but there was still guilt for his words. He hadn’t explained himself well, and he hated the thought that Ellie might think she was just being punished out of cruelty or anger, rather than love.

And then there was the sadness. He had become accustomed to her company, and it had been a lonely week for him without their regular conversation. He didn’t want all of their interactions to end in arguing, but it seemed that that was the way it was now.

Despite himself, he spent all of Sunday afternoon in his office, hoping that Ellie would come and apologize, but she never did. 


	7. Progress

Ellie didn’t tell her friends about her adventure right away. Her feelings about it were still too mixed up, and she couldn’t possibly explain them without first explaining about two years of personal history with Professor Snape.

It wasn’t fair for Snape to track her like that, but she wished she hadn’t said that but about wanting to be treated like a normal student. Taking away her right to try things in class was not at all an expected outcome. All she wanted was to be able to pursue her interests without getting in trouble for them. And whatever Snape said, she felt perfectly safe with Hagrid.

When she met Hagrid at his hut to pick up her wood, she asked about Snape’s wandless wizard comment. He admitted that he had been kicked out of Hogwarts and had his wand broken and now wasn’t technically allowed to use magic. Ellie decided that as soon as she figured out how to make a working wand, the first thing she would do would be give one to Hagrid in return for his help. Ollivander might get in trouble for selling him a wand, but she doubted that there was much that could be done against an untrained child.

Snape wouldn’t approve. He’d say that she was breaking the rules and causing trouble again. But as far as she was concerned, Hagrid deserved a wand and there was no real crime in breaking an unjust law.

She thought that she would be dodging questions at dinner about her solitary adventure, but nobody wanted to talk about anything other than quidditch.

Apparently, Adrian had blown everyone away at Quidditch tryouts. Even though some older students were there, he was picked for the house team. Donna was a little hurt, but even she had to admit that Adrian had been really impressive. With Marcus as captain and the impressive lineup of returning students, it was shaping up to be a great season for Slytherin.

“I’m going to keep practicing this year,” said Donna, “I’m not giving up. When Rogers graduates next year there’ll be a beater spot opening up, and it’s  _ mine _ .”

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Adrian, “our year is going to take over the school.”

 

On Sunday, Ellie told Yuki and Phineas about the trip into the forest, including getting in trouble with Snape.

“I can’t believe you got out of trouble with him again. How do you not have detention?” Said Phineas.

“Well he took a bunch of house points. And…” Ellie trailed off.

“And what?” Asked Yuki impatiently.

“And he said that I’m not allowed to experiment in Potions class anymore. Something about needing to learn to follow directions, I guess.”

“Wow,” Said Yuki, “He must be really mad. He never exactly encouraged your tricks, but he never criticized them either. Do you think you’d get in trouble if I changed things?”

“Probably.” Ellie said, “maybe we shouldn’t be lab partners if you want to do that.”

“In any case,” said Phineas, “you should do something to try to get those points back. We’ve just lost the lead.”

That afternoon, Ellie helped Professor Sprout in the greenhouses again. The Herbology Professor was delighted to hear about the wand-tree in the forest and how Ellie had used the vine trimming spell so effectively. By the end of the day, she had earned back all the points she lost.

Between her forest trip and her afternoon with Sprout, Ellie had had hardly any time to finish her homework, so she hurriedly did as much as she could in the common room that night. It wasn’t up to her usual standards, but at least it was done.

She was still sleepy when she arrived at Potions the next morning, but her nerves kept her eyes wide open. It was the most uncomfortable Potions class of her life, even worse than last week. Snape wasn’t ignoring her or avoiding her eyes, but by the end of the lesson Ellie wished that he was.

He gave her and Phineas exactly as much attention as anyone else. His comments were short and rude, which Phineas was used to, but felt particularly insulting to Ellie. Her potion was perfectly fine, but received no notable mentions. Looking over at Yuki and Theo’s brew, she thought that theirs was better, which was nearly enough to make her cry. She had never been second in Potions before.

There was nothing in Snape’s look to imply that he thought anything of Ellie. Under his emotionless gaze, she felt anonymous. Gone we’re the significant nods and secret smiles he had shared with her so frequently last year.

This is what she had asked for. This, she realized, was what it was like to be a normal student in Snape’s class, and she hated it.

He had let her go so easily. He was completely uninterested in her. If she went to his office, she felt that he would continue the charade of acquaintanceship. Whatever relationship they’d had, Ellie could see in his eyes that she had ruined it.

When the next Sunday rolled around, she found herself at the greenhouses again. And the next Sunday. And the Next.

Eventually, this became the new normal. Pushing aside the feelings of regret, she threw herself into her wandlore studies, as if to justify the break in her relationship with Snape. If she could make a wand, it would be worth it.

Her first attempt was horrible. It was the ugliest stick she’d ever seen and she couldn’t make it produce so much as a single spark. 

Without a lathe, she was reduced to whittling the wood with a knife that Hagrid had lent her. Gregorovitch made some vague references to potions that were used to treat the wood and the core throughout the process, but Ellie couldn’t even begin to imagine what they were, she she did without.

She had a lot of trouble figuring out how to get the core into the wand as well. for her second attempt , she ended up drilling an obnoxiously narrow hole in the narrow stick of wood and carefully pushing the hair as far down the hole as it could then trimming the end and closing the small opening with sawdust. She was sure that ollivander had a better way, and she tried to figure it out by looking at her own wand, but it was so seamless that she could draw no conclusions.

Her roommates were complaining about the sawdust in the air, so she found an empty classroom on the first floor to use as her workspace. It was a little annoying to bring her materials back and forth to the dorm, but she couldn’t leave her project lying around.

On two occasions, she got so wrapped up in her work that she lost track of time and ended up needing to sneak back to the common room after curfew. The first time it happened, she was sure that Snape was going to show up, but after the second time she concluded that he must not have gotten another nanny disc, or had simply decided not to bother her about it.

Thereafter, she was late to return much more often, even when she was aware of the time.

By the time Halloween rolled around, she had three failed wand attempts and was well on her way to a fourth. She was glad that she had so much wood and unicorn hair to work with, since she didn’t seem likely to make anything impressive any time soon. Each one looked better than the last, though, and the third had actually felt like a wand for a brief moment when she picked it up.

When she felt that swooping sensation of magic, she immediately attempted to cast a spell. It was unsuccessful, but the wood did crack, so she at least knew that she was channeling some kind of power through the core.

She'd made some improvements on the way she inserted the core for the last trial. She used a needle-threading spell rather than doing it by hand, and she sealed the end of the wand with a charm rather than stuffing it, so it at least looked solid. With her little bit of success giving her hope, she decided to turn her attention to the potions.

Gregorovitch had clearly not meant this to be a comprehensive guide, and he glossed over some really crucial points, but she got the impression that she was supposed to soak the core in some sort of strengthening solution before using it. She also thought that the wood stain concoction he mentioned was more magical than mundane. She searched through the library for any mention of potions in relation to wands, but couldn't find anything solid. In one historical account, it was mentioned that Ollivander's great great grandfather bought a potion off a travelling salesman shortly before he died, but that didn't necessarily have anything to do with his wand-making. However, it was implied that it had something to do with his death.

At one point, Ellie tried to convince Yuki and Phineas to help her scour the library, but they both refused on account of being busy with their own work. Ellie's grades were suffering for her obsession, but Ellie couldn't bring herself to care much. She was comfortably middle to upper-bottom of the class in wandwork in all her subjects, even without much practice. She was excelling in Herbology, of course, since she spent every Sunday doing extra work with Professor Sprout. Her written work was taking the biggest hit. Her essays were getting shorter and less detailed as the term wore on, but as long as she achieved acceptable grades, it was fine.

Once she got used to Snape's new attitude, Potions wasn't bad either. It was actually fairly relaxing to follow the instructions word-for-word without second-guessing them, producing a perfect result each time. Well, as perfect as it could get without taking risks. And no matter how much she put off her Transfiguration homework in favor of wand whittling, she made time for Potions. Despite their estrangement, Ellie still cared more about Snape's approval than anyone else's. If she was going to just be his student for the next six years, she would at least be his best student. And maybe, after Ellie proved her ability to follow rules, they would be able to talk again.

Snape's indifference stung. There was no denying that. But Ellie still wanted to impress him. She wondered if he would be able to help with her current situation. If anyone knew some obscure wand-related potions, it was the Potions master.

She shied away from the thought. It was her interest in wands that had gotten her into trouble the last time. There was no way she could ask him for help with it now, even if she was willing to ask him anything at all.

She decided to start from scratch. She'd spent plenty of time modifying potions and studying ingredients, but had never attempted to create something entirely new. Throughout November, when she was supposed to be taking notes in class, she filled a journal with lists of possible ingredients and what purpose they might serve in the whole. For the core potion, she read up on strengthening solutions, preservation potions, conductive elixirs, and hair care potions (just in case). For the wood, she looked for potions that mitigated magical interference, healed plants (to prevent cracks), and generally made things less susceptible to breakage, both magical and mundane.

She also found some charms to try working into her process somehow.  _ Impervius _ seemed especially promising, although she didn't yet know how to cast a charm without the effects quickly fading. She asked Yuki to show her the magic binding charms that were all over her house, but she refused to share the secret.

"It's a family thing," said Yuki, "Besides, shouldn't you be doing your actual charms homework? That essay on fire-making spells is due tomorrow and you haven't even started."

"I'll do it tonight," said Ellie, "I just feel so close to a breakthrough here. I really want to try making this potion I've been working on, but I'd have to get the ingredients somehow."

Phineas said, "I can't really help with that, but if you want company while you brew it, or an assistant I guess, I'm in. If you really invent a new potion you'll be famous, and you'll have to mention me in all the publications about it."

"I never got famous for my spell," said Ellie, "and I don't see this being any different. But I'd appreciate your help. It's bound to go wrong the first time, so I'm thinking I'll do it in small batches… Are you in, Yuki?"

She considered it for a moment and said, "Yeah, alright. This is too cool to pass up. But if we get in trouble with Snape, I'm blaming you. And promise that you'll do your real homework first?"

"Don't worry," said Ellie, "I will. Now here's the list…"

Most of the ingredients she could get from Professor Sprout or from Hagrid, but there were a few rarer things she wanted as well. The properties of dendrobates skin were absolutely essential to the wand core brew she was planning, but she wasn't sure where to get it. Snape would definitely have some in his private stores, but that was out of the question.

"Maybe you could get Tiberius and Ben to pick some up for you at the apothecary during the next Hogsmeade weekend," suggested Yuki.

"I don't know if a small store like that would have what I'm looking for," said Yuki, "and I don't want to wait that long anyway. I want to at least try this before Christmas break."

"Hey, do you think that Mr Mulpepper's Apothecary does a mail order service?" said Phineas. "They have everything. It's pricey, though."

"I can afford it," said Yuki confidently, "but that would be nearly as bad as nicking something from Snape's potion stores."

"It's not like we're actually going to Knockturn Alley again," said Ellie, "I think it's worth a shot."

Before starting her charms essay, Ellie wrote a very quick letter to Mr Malcolm Mulpepper, asking if he could send some ingredients by owl post. She listed the specific items and quantities, but didn't say what they were for. She considered using a false name or using Yuki's name instead, but she supposed that if Snape ever found out about this, he would know that Ellie was behind it regardless.

The next morning, the last day of the month, Nomad delivered the reply. It was short and professional, and made no mention of whether or not he recognized Ellie's name from a few months ago. It simply listed the price of each item and said that he would send the package upon receipt of the gold. Unlike the mamushi venom, everything turned out to be quite affordable. The three friends pooled their coins and sent for the ingredients straight away.

 

The silent treatment was not working in Snape’s favor. Ellie seemed perfectly content to never speak to him again, but Snape was not. It only took him three months to realize that he was an idiot for expecting a 12 year old to be the bigger person and apologize to him. But now that he had let it carry on so long, he wasn’t sure how to bring it up again.

He wasn’t sorry for yelling at her or punishing her or warning her against dangerous behavior, but he was sorry for pushing her away.

According most of the other teachers, Ellie was struggling in her classes. There had been a notable decline in her performance since the previous year, and McGonagall had been quick to point it out. Months ago, she asked Snape to speak to Ellie about it, as her her head of house, but he had yet to do so. 

Just yesterday, Flitwick had expressed his disappointment as well. He had initially been very excited about the progress she had made over the summer, but was sad to see that she was putting little effort into her work now. Ellie was of course still an exceptional potions student, so Snape made some biting remark he didn’t really mean about her poor charms performance being a result of Flitwick’s inadequate instruction.

If they were still having their regular meetings, Snape was sure that he could have prevented this. He had helped her with charms, transfiguration, and defense against the dark arts on numerous occasions last year. But before he could deal with that, he had to mend their broken relationship somehow. It was time.

 

The potions ingredients arrived with the Sunday post, and Ellie wanted to start right away, but Yuki insisted on finishing their homework first. With this motivation, Ellie managed work through all the assignments she’d been putting off and even finished quick enough to help Phineas hurry through his.

She was feeding him facts for his History essay as quick as she could, but she was impatient.

“I can’t write that fast!” Said Phineas. “Slow down a minute.”

“We have all afternoon, Ellie,” Said Yuki, calmly checking over her star chart for the sixth time. “Sprout can survive one week without her personal assistant. You must have single handedly earned Slytherin like 200 points by now. Give it a rest.”

“I already told her I’m not coming today. But I want to get started right away. I’ve never done this before and I have no idea how long it will take.”

Despite Ellie’s urging, they didn’t get started until nearly three o’clock. It was very quiet by her out-of-the-way classroom, but she locked the door and cast a sound muffling charm just in case.

On one table, she had her small cauldron over a low flame, and on the other table, Yuki and Phineas were carefully preparing the ingredients. With her journal of notes and her two assistants, she felt like a real potions master.

The first few steps went exactly as planned. As the various herbs dissolved into the acidic mixture of hag bile and umbrella flower nectar, the potion turned a soft, opaque, turquoise color, signaling the successful transmutation of the elements.

They took turns stirring the potion for about 20 minutes, 7 stirs in one direction, then 7 in the other, until it turned clear. 

“Alright, time for the shredded skin, I think.” Said Ellie, consulting her notes. “Do you have it ready, Yuki?”

“Right here. Exactly half an ounce.”

Ellie tipped the ingredient into the cauldron and turned the heat down to let it simmer a while.

“Er, Ellie? Is it supposed to be smoking like that?” Asked Phineas nervously.

“I’m not sure… but I don’t think so.” Said Ellie, flipping through her pages, “maybe it’s the nectar? If it wasn’t fresh enough it might not be strong enough to counteract the corrosive nature of the skin…”

“Corrosive?” Asked Yuki, “Does that mean that the smoke is coming from your slowly dissolving cauldron and not the liquid itself?”

“Yeah. Maybe you should take a step back.”

Her two friend backed up all the way to the door.

“It’s ok. I think I can fix this.” Ellie said, peering into the smoking cauldron.

“Do you need more nectar?” Asked Phineas.

“No, it’s too late for that. But a little moonstone might do the trick. I’m not sure what it’ll do to the final product, but I guess we’ll find out. Can you grind some up for me, Yuki? As fine as you can.”

The volume of smoke increased as Yuki worked, and Ellie did her best to look cool and collected. She hadn’t really expected to get it right on the first try, but she at least expected to not mess up so badly that she melted her own cauldron.

As soon as it was ready, Ellie started to sprinkle the powder into the potion while Yuki stirred slowly. Phineas was standing by the door, trying not to breathe in the fumes. After a while, the cauldron stopped smoking and Phineas dared to come take a look. The potion was perfectly clear, and since it had stopped boiling, it could have passed for pure water.

Ellie clapped her hands together and said, “great! Crisis averted. On to the next step. Did you strain the bits out of the crushed charleswurt?”

“Yeah, but once I did there wasn’t much liquid left,” said Phineas, holding up the small vial.

“That’s fine, I only need a little .”

She took an eye dropper and put three drops of the green liquid into the potion. They all oohed appreciatively as the drops spread through the liquid in a branching, symmetrical pattern, until the spidery strands collided and formed new patterns, equally beautiful.

"No stirring this time," said Ellie, "and don't shake the table. We want it to mix naturally. Can you two keep an eye on it while I write down what happened with the moonstone? I don't want to forget. Just tell me when it starts to look like a solid color again, and we'll be ready for the next step."

Ellie scribbled frantically while her friends watched the branching patterns in the thickening potion. Ellie put down her quill and rushed over when they said it was time. It was basically a translucent brown color now, but if she looked closely, she could still discern a pattern in it.

"Now," said Ellie, "Just a little bit of fairy dust."

She took the small pouch of the golden powder and sprinkled it as evenly as she could across the surface of the potion. At first, it formed a crust on top of the cooling liquid, but as they waited, chunks began to crack and sink down into the brew. When it looked like gold flakes suspended in a brownish gel, Ellie turned the heat back on and began to carefully stir. 6 turns clockwise, 1 counter clockwise, wait, and repeat. The change was slow and a little boring, but out of respect for the process, Yuki and Phineas made no comment and waited patiently for it to be done.

"Alright, I think it's done. Pass me the vials, Yuki." Ellie ladled the thick potion into five vials, which she would be testing later. There was no obvious immediate test for a potion this subtle with so many elements,  but she had some tests planned for the week that should tell her what needed improving.


	8. Reconciliation

After returning the unused ingredients, the damaged cauldron, and the finished potion to their dorm room, the three of them ran down to the great hall to catch the very end of dinner. Having already finished their homework, they had a rather enjoyable evening of relaxed conversation in the common room while everyone else was scrambling to finish Monday's assignments.

"How are you going to explain to Snape tomorrow why you need a new cauldron?" asked Phineas.

"I won't. And I doubt he'll notice the difference. The bottom is a little thin now, but I think It'll be fine for the next few lessons at least. Maybe I'll get a new one during Christmas break."

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you," said Phineas, "My parents invited you to come stay with us for the holiday, if you want. I'd understand if you'd rather spend that time here working on your wands without interruption… but you know, the offer stands."

"No, I'd love to!" said Ellie, "But I'd need to get permission first."

Her mood plummeted after the initial excitement at the invitation. Whatever her situation with Snape was at the moment, he was still her legal guardian and she couldn't just disappear without telling him. She was terrified at the thought of asking him for this favor after months of being ignored. What if he said no? Or even worse, said yes, but only because he thought that where she spent her holiday was none of his concern?

She pushed those thoughts aside firmly and decided to deal with it later. She had five vials of her experimental potion to test while it was still fresh, and she couldn't be distracted. Christmas break was still a few weeks away, and she had plenty of time to come up with a way to talk to Snape.

She thought about it during Potions class on Monday morning. They were brewing a simple deflating drought to wrap up their unit on size manipulation, and it didn't require much concentration. When Snape came around to check on her progress, he said, "well done."

There was no smile or sign of pleasure, but Ellie still found his complement encouraging, both for finishing the potion and asking him for permission to stay with the Prewetts for Christmas.

At the very end of the class, Snape declared her potion to be the best of the day, which was the most positive thing he had uttered in that classroom all term. It may have just been wishful thinking because she needed something from him now, but it seemed like he was trying to be nice to her. 

That week, Ellie spent hours every night working on her wand project. Yuki and Phineas came by for a little while to observe (and to try to get her to do her homework) but she was mostly on her own. The potion seemed to have some positive qualities, but not exactly the ones she'd intended. She thought that the moonstone had something to do with the unexpected effects, but she decided that she liked them. The next time she made this, she might forgo the Umbrella flower nectar entirely.

Really, it couldn't have gone better for a first attempt. She hadn't expected to produce anything that would be worth actually testing on the wand wood, but she decided that it was a necessary step, even if it totally destroyed her latest wand. After astronomy on Wednesday, she stayed up until almost 4 in the morning applying layer after layer of the potion to her fifth wand. 

She was very proud of this latest attempt. She'd found that one of the tree healing charms she knew worked on the wood, even though it wasn't alive, so she was able to charm the wood into completely enclosing the core with no little air pockets. It created a strange pattern in the wood but she thought that it would go a long way towards creating a smooth path to channel the magical energy. She considered using the spell to smooth the outside of the wand as well, but she decided that she liked the hand-carved look after all.

The thick potion stained the wood to a deep, rich, brown and gave it a bit of gloss which really made it look like a finished product. When it was dry, she picked it up and could feel that it was a wand. She'd definitely gotten something right about this one. At that point she was too tired to do any magic with her own wand, let alone this trial creation, so she snuck off to bed and decided to try it out the next day.

She kept thinking about the wand all day throughout her classes, stowed in a box under her bed, with all her other materials. She was so distracted during transfiguration that she turned her textbook into a teacup by mistake, and had to ask Professor McGonagall to turn it back so she could finish the assignment.

"Come on, Ellie," said Phineas after class, "You're never going to be a world-famous wandmaker if you fail out of Hogwarts."

Ellie replied, "I'm not failing! I just think that the work I'm doing is more important than transfiguration. I'm telling you, I'm on the cusp of a major breakthrough. I know what I need for the Wand Stain Solution next time and I think I've figured out the missing piece for the Wand Core Solution. I thought we could try it this weekend…"

"It's not like any of this is really revolutionary," said Yuki, "There are loads of wandmakers and they probably all use similar potions."

"Yeah, but not  _ exactly _ the same," said Ellie, "Who knows, mine might even be better than theirs someday."

"I like that confidence," said Phineas, "But I don't think I can help you this weekend. Donna roped me into some quidditch practice. It should be interesting trying to play on a school broom. I swear they have a mind of their own."

"And I would help," said Yuki, "but I don't want to."

"Wow, brutal honesty." said Phineas, "I'm impressed."

"It's cool, I get it," said Ellie with a shrug, "Potions is my thing, not yours. I probably won't cause any fatal explosions if I do it by myself…"

"You don't need our help," said Yuki gently, "You'll be brilliant on your own. And if you just want an audience, I can be there, but not every week. If your wand works, though, feel free to brag as much as you want."

Ellie tried to be responsible and finish her homework before testing her wand that night, but she gave up halfway through her charms essay. She just couldn't convince herself that cleaning charms were as interesting as wandmaking. Leaving Yuki and Phineas in the common room to finish, she went back to the dorm and took out the wand and her journal of notes, to write down her observations.

She decided to start with the basics. Just some red sparks. Any wizard could do that with just about any wand. She opened her journal to a fresh page and wrote, "Wand V: Spark Test."

She started with just some minimal effort, in case it was very responsive. There was no effect. She wrote it down.

Then she tried a little harder, with the amount of energy she would normally put into it. No effect.

She kept carefully increasing the flow of magic on each iteration until finally something happened. There was definitely a little spark there! She wrote it down and tried again. Two sparks!

She smiled broadly as she wrote down her findings. She had to expend a lot more effort than usual to create even the tiniest spark, but it was definitely working. She continued to send red sparks shooting over her bed until she was confident that she could do it consistently.

Then, she started pushing the limits by holding the magic for longer and doing more complicated tricks with the colored sparks. She continued this until, with a crack and a pop, the end of her wand exploded and sent wooden splinters shooting across the room. She tapped the remaining end on the palm of her hand, and little bits of black powder fell out. She seemed to have completely destroyed the core.

That ended her experiments for the day, so she went around the room picking up splinters and then wrote down the results. She thought that she had made good progress, but she wouldn't be able to do much more until she finished the Wand Core Solution.

On Saturday, Ellie managed to brew it on her own. It was a lot simpler than the other potion had been, and took hardly any time at all. She didn't want to ruin all her remaining unicorn hairs, so she took just one of them and put it in the little glass vial of purple potion to soak. 

She ought to be happy. She was one step closer to her goal. But the milestone felt a little lackluster with no one to applaud her. All she wanted to do was share her accomplishment with someone who could actually appreciate it.

 

Snape was in his office on Sunday afternoon. Usually people didn't bother him then, so he was surprised to hear a knock on his door. His first thought was, of course, of Ellie. But it had been too long for him to reasonably expect her to show up. His next thought was of Dumbledore, but he was usually summoned to the headmaster's office if Dumbledore wanted to talk with him.

Unsure of who it was, then, he put his papers to the side and said, "Come in."

The door opened slowly and Ellie edged her way in. "I, er, have something to ask you, Professor," she said nervously.

Snape hesitated. He'd been waiting for this, but he wasn't quite ready. He'd decided he should apologize, or at least acknowledge that he may have inadvertently hurt her, but he hadn't yet found the words to express this. Maybe he wouldn't have to, if Ellie was willing to put this conflict to rest now herself. But he was keeping her waiting now, he realized, just staring at her as she stood with one hand on the door.

"Please close the door and sit down," said Snape gently. "What is it?"

"It's… it's about Christmas break," said Ellie, "Phineas Prewett's family invited me to come stay with them. And I need your permission to go…"

Snape's heart sank. Of all the reasons for talking to him again… He'd thought that maybe she'd noticed his overtures of peace in class this week and wanted to ask about it, but clearly not. Not wanting her to see his disappointment, he stood and went to the shelf behind him, taking down a book at random. "You have my permission. Is that all?"

"Er, yes, Professor. Thank you."

He felt very foolish. Of course she was fine. She just wanted to spend some time with her friend, as any normal student would. What else could she want from him? He'd spent all these months moping in his office, waiting for her to come, and she was out there living her life to the fullest, as an ordinary student, just as she'd said she wanted to. He thought he'd detected a trace of regret or sadness in her during lessons, but he bitterly realized that he may have only seen what he wanted to see.

Snape suddenly blurted, "Are you happy?"

"Am I what?" asked Ellie, slightly bewildered.

"Happy," he repeated. The word felt strange in his mouth and he had a sudden irrational fear that he was pronouncing the simple word wrong. He'd had little occasion to use it in his life, and who would have corrected him? He clarified, "During these last few months. With your friends and your classes and whatever else you've been doing. Have you been happy?"

"Oh… yes, I suppose so."

She sounded confused, but not untruthful. It was a good thing, he supposed, that she was happy just to be a student and go to classes and Quidditch games and eat meals with her House. She wasn't a lonely orphan girl anymore. She was well-adjusted, content, and  _ happy _ . And that made Severus miserable. 

He considered telling her that that was all he had to say, that she was dismissed, but couldn't bring himself to say it. He felt that if he let her walk out of his office right then, it would be the end of things. He'd carried Ellie through some rough times in her life, but perhaps his job was done now. Maybe he'd done enough. Maybe all there was to do now was let her spend Christmas where she wanted and teach her potions, like it was nothing more than a job. It would be what Dumbledore wanted. It may even be what Ellie wanted. But as for what Snape wanted… 

"I'm not." said Snape quietly, his back still to the girl. "I am not happy." 

He took a breath to steady himself and then, in a rush, before he could talk himself out of it, he said, "I've missed you."

Not daring to turn around, he waited in the silence for Ellie to say something. He had never felt so vulnerable. A voice in his head kept shouting that it was a stupid thing to say, that he would only make Ellie uncomfortable, that it was selfish and immature and irresponsible to guilt her like this. Snape suppressed the voice and waited for her response, his nails biting painfully into the palm of his tightly clenched fist.

Finally, she said, in a voice almost too quiet to hear, "Me too."

All the tension of the last few months dissipated as he turned to face her. Ellie looked to be on the brink of tears, but a small smile was tugging at the corner of her lips, and Snape was convinced that she meant what she said. He immediately went to her and wrapped her in a warm embrace. "I'm so sorry," Snape said, "You could never be an ordinary student to me."

"I didn't like just being your student," Ellie admitted, pulling away. "I wish I never said that. Are you still mad at me?"

"No, Ellie, I'm not mad," he replied, honestly. He was in too good of a mood to be mad right then. "I'm just happy to have you here in my office on a Sunday afternoon again. Please, sit down and tell me what I've missed. I'm sure a lot has happened."

Sheepishly, Ellie said, "If I tell you… can you promise to not get mad?"

Snape hesitated. From the look on her face, she had clearly been up to some kind of trouble. But he really was happy to be able to talk to her again, and he didn't want to blow it right away. "I promise."

Ellie immediately launched into a story about how she had spent the last few months teaching herself how to make wands. As she described her progress, she got more and more excited. There were definitely some things he could have gotten mad about in there. She admitted to staying out past curfew, for one thing, and experimental magic was always a risk. But he put his professorial thoughts aside and just focused on the fact that Ellie, a girl he loved as a daughter, was a clever and inventive witch attempting to do great things. Once he suppressed the urge to berate her rule-breaking, he was left primarily with a feeling of pride. He'd missed this.

Ellie slowed her story and grew nervous again when she reached the most recent few weeks. "Well, I realized that I was skipping some crucial steps by not treating the wood and the core with a potion. Only, the instructions didn't mention what the potions were and I couldn't find anything about it in the library, so… so I tried to make my own."

Snape raised an eyebrow, "You attempted to create a potion from scratch? Not adapting from another potion? That's quite different from making small changes to your school assignments, you know… interactions between magical ingredients can be hard to predict."

"Well, I read about some other potions with properties that might be useful and tried to use similar ingredients, but there were some unexpected results when I actually made it."

"You mean this wasn't theoretical?" he said sternly, "You actually brewed an original potion, with no guidance or supervision?"

"You promised not to get mad."

"I'm not mad," said Snape defensively. He was a little mad, but he pushed that aside. Clearly if she was sitting here telling him about it, it couldn't have gone too terribly wrong. He continued, "I am impressed, though. Did it work?"

"Kind of. I think I can make it better next time. And I did the Core Solution yesterday as well, but I haven't tested it yet."

He considered this. A repeat offence, clearly breaking school rules, performing dangerous experiments… but he did promise. "I'm not mad," he lied, "but I do need to warn you that experimenting with potions on your own is dangerous. I should take some blame for this. I drove you to it, I'm sure, by suppressing your experimental tendencies in class. You should, I think, be permitted to resume those if you wish."

"I know it's dangerous." said Ellie, "but how else will I learn?"

He wanted to say that everyone else managed to learn just fine with the normal curriculum, but that wasn't quite true. Not even the NEWT course of study could adequately prepare someone to be a potions master. It required additional study, outside the normal classroom activities. He replied, "If you'd like, we could work on it together. I am sure you know more about wandlore than me, but you would be hard-pressed to find a better Potions assistant."

Ellie grinned, "assistant?"

Her smile confirmed that he'd said the right thing. It could be interesting, he thought, to be her assistant. It had worked well with spell invention, so why not with potions? "If it is your invention, then you are the master and I am the assistant, yes."

"I'd like that. I had some questions about moonstone… Let me just run to my dorm and get my journal. I have like fifty pages of notes to talk about."

 

Ellie ended up getting her whole wand making kit to show Professor Snape. It was a little strange to suddenly be doing this again, but it felt right. He was much more interested in her work than any of her friends had been, and definitely had more worthwhile advice.

"This is a clever use of the nectar. Sprout would be thrilled. She does struggle to justify their presence in the greenhouse, since they are outside the standard curriculum. This is a new use for them that could help them earn their keep. If you're worried about it losing its potency, you can just keep it in a charmed vial. I can show you how to prepare one later. But how on earth did you get dendrobates skin? Even for Hagrid, that would be a strange pet."

"We're still doing the whole you're-not-allowed-to-get-mad-at-me thing, right?"

"Yes, but I think I may need to put an expiration date on that clause."

"I ordered it from Malcolm Mulpepper's apothecary."

Snape seemed to battle the urge to yell at her, but eventually mastered the feeling and said, "From now on, if you are in need of a rare ingredient, just ask me. Is there anything else you need to tell me while you are under temporary immunity?"

"I, er,  melted my cauldron a bit last week and probably need a new one." she said sheepishly, "And I may have taken the mamushi venom from your stores this summer, but I promise I didn't use it."

A vein throbbed in Snape's forehead as he closed his eyes and breathed slowly. With a great deal of effort, he replied calmly, "Thank you for telling me. Please return it to me tomorrow."

Ellie smiled and said, "Thanks for not getting mad."

"Don't push your luck, Ellie. You know you should be in a lot of trouble for that."

"Punishment is ok. You can give me detention if you want. Just…" Ellie felt a lump rising in her throat. "just don't hate me for it."

"I could never hate you, Ellie," said Snape, all the tension and repressed anger sliding from his face. He continued solemnly, "No matter how many illegal potions you brew or foolhardy missions you undertake. I love you. You know that, don't you?"

She was overwhelmed by the sincerity of the statement. Other people had said they loved her. Miss Trumble, some foster parents, her muggle middle school math teacher… but they'd been empty words. Just a thing that you say to a child. Snape had never said it. Ellie shook her head and started to cry. 

Snape knelt beside her and took her hand. "I'm sorry that I didn't make that clear before. If I was harsh, it is only because I worry about you and want to protect you. I don't want you to make the mistakes that I did, Ellie. I will never be able to abolish my reputation as a practitioner of the dark arts, but I want to keep you away from all that. This interest in wand-making is a good thing. Much better than duelling and curses and legilimency and whatever else I was interested in at your age. But powerful magic is always on the brink of something darker. The forbidden forest, knockturn alley… These places hold temptations that I do not want you to see. Do you understand?"

"Is Mr Mulpepper a dark wizard?"

"Not exactly, but he would definitely brew potions that other people find distasteful."

"And what about Hagrid? Is he dangerous too?"

"Extremely. As gentle as he may seem, he has a dangerous fascination with dark creatures and does not know his own strength."

"Do you think that I'm dangerous too?"

"We all have that potential, Ellie. Resist it. And I will shield you from it as best I can."

"I am trying, you know. I didn't argue with Professor Brightwell even when he forgot to mention the Wolfsbane Potion during our class on werewolves. I didn't tell him that dark creatures can be good with the right help. And ordering the potion ingredients by owl post was better than going there in person, right?"

"Better. But not best," said Snape. He looked like there was something more he wanted to say on the topic, but decided against it. "Just keep trying. It's getting late. You should go back to the dorms. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Snape did look tired, and Ellie was too, but she was happier than she had been in a good long while. Back in the Slytherin common room, Ellie plopped down in a chair next to Yuki and Phineas, who were both reading.

Gesturing to Ellie's wand-making supplies, Phineas asked, "Off making wands again?"

Yuki leaned in and quietly asked, "Have you been crying? Your eyes are all red."

"Oh," said Ellie, "A bit, yeah. But I'm fine. I'm great, actually. I talked to Snape - as the head of Slytherin house - and he said I could join you for the holiday, Phin. And he also said I could start messing with the instructions in class again. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, it's been ages since I did anything interesting in a classroom, other than making wands in secret…"

"Hang on," said Yuki, "I thought that he was mad about the forest thing? And the apothecary? He's been ice cold to you all year. He's not just going to turn around and make you teacher's pet again after all that."

"Wait and see," said Ellie, with a wink.

Sure enough, double potions the next day was a whole new world. They were supposed to be brewing a common cooling draught, but Ellie convinced Yuki to do Sir Robert's variant with her instead. It was much stronger, much more dangerous, and much more challenging than the standard version that Snape wrote on the board, but Ellie was confident in her abilities.

Just 20 minutes into the class, their potion diverged significantly from that of their neighbors, turning a dark blue color rather than the light magenta in the surrounding cauldrons. The Ravenclaws across the aisle snickered and made a comment about how much Ellie had slipped since the previous year, assuming that she had achieved that shade by accident.

"Sir Robert's variant, is it?" said Snape, watching Yuki finely shred the biting cabbage leaves. "An interesting choice. I wouldn't expect anyone below the 6th year to be able to do it, but you always surprise me, Nihil. Are you aware of the controversy with this potion?"

"Well, it's a little strong for curing ordinary fevers. And an overdose can freeze and stop the heart. But there's a neat little trick to prevent that, discovered long after sir Robert's time…"

"A sprig of peppermint?"

Ellie held up the ingredient in response. She'd planned ahead.

"Well done." said Snape, "You may continue."

The Ravenclaw boy across the aisle raised his hand and asked, "Sir? Why is she allowed to make a completely different potion? Doesn't she need to learn the standard version?"

"She already knows how to make the standard version." said Snape dismissively.

"But that's not fair!" said the boy, "The rest of us have to prove we can do it."

Snape scowled and said, "Davies, Nihil, close your eyes. Now, Davies, tell me how to brew a simple cooling draught."

"But sir, the instructions are on the board. I haven't memorized it yet…"

"No? What about you, Nihil?"

Ellie recited them, word for word, just as they were written on the board.

"Perfect. 5 points to Slytherin."

Ellie opened her eyes and found Davies glaring at her.

"Do not question me again," said Snape, "And 5 points from Ravenclaw for your attitude. Now back to your potions, all of you."

As everyone stopped watching the spectacle and got back to work, Yuki whispered, "You were right. You're definitely back in his good books. How'd you manage it?"

Ellie just shrugged and turned up the heat on the new cauldron Snape had given her. 


	9. Christmas

The last few weeks before the Holiday flew by. True to his word, Snape helped Ellie improve her original potions, although he found them quite impressive to begin with. He had no idea whether they resembled the ones that Gregorovitch had used, but they seemed well designed. She really did have a remarkable grasp of how the ingredients interacted with each other to create a potion that was greater than the sum of its parts. He wished he could take credit for teaching her this, but he thought it had much more to do with her natural instinct and her independent studies.

After the last class of the Fall term, he was surprised to find a student lingering after class to speak to him. "What is it, Jones? Class is over, and I'm very busy."

Eurydice Jones held out a gift bag, decorated with a tastefully muted christmas wreath pattern. "Merry Christmas, sir."

Snape eyed the gift skeptically. "I do not accept bribery, Jones. If you are dissatisfied with your grades this year, you are going to need to work much harder."

The girl didn't seem bothered. "I know that, sir. This is a gift from my mother. She wanted to deliver it herself, but she didn't think she would have a chance."

Snape thought that Ms. Jones would have had plenty of chances. It seemed that they ran into each other nearly every time Snape was in Hogsmeade. It was uncanny. And he had on several occasions met her in the halls of the castle itself, as she came to or from a meeting with Dumbledore. In his opinion, she was far too active at Hogwarts for someone who was neither teacher nor student. He assumed that this was another attempt to win his favor, but he had no intent of going easy on Eurydice, especially since she seemed so blase about her current academic situation.

"Please," said the girl, "My mother will be terribly upset with me if I wasn't able to deliver it properly."

Reluctantly, Snape took the gift and said, "Very well, Jones. On your way, now."

Eurydice smiled brightly and waved as she left the room, and Snape couldn't help but feel like he was being mocked. Curiously, he opened the bag and found a bottle of Madam Rosmerta's finest oak matured mead. It was indeed a favorite of his, but it was not cheap, and he resented the ease at which some people threw their money into gifts when he had always struggled to make ends meet. There was a card as well.

 

_ Dearest Severus, _

 

_ I hope you enjoy this gift, as I have enjoyed our brief but intoxicating conversations this year. If you are looking for someone to share a drink with at any time, I would be happy to oblige. I would welcome the chance to get to know you better. _

 

_ Merry Christmas! _

_ Medea Jones _

 

Snape bristled at the lack of formality in the note. They had spoken on plenty of occasions in recent months, but Snape would hardly consider her a friend. And her desire to 'get to know him better' reeked of ulterior motives, although he couldn't quite place a finger on what they were.

He put the bottle on a shelf in his office and quickly forgot about it. Madam Pomfrey had requested a number of difficult potions from him and he needed to spend much of his break working on them. 

 

Ellie was not working on any wands or potions during break, at Phineas's request. His family had a large estate in the country, and his parents were eager to show her all the great things about it while she was there. They had several horses that took them on a lovely sleigh ride through the fields and woods, while Mr. and Mrs. Prewett pointed out their favorite bits of nature.

Their land was every bit as magical as the forbidden forest, but much more carefully maintained. Phineas's father turned out to be a rather well regarded herbologist, as well as the heir to a large fortune, and he was delighted to find that Ellie was actually interested in his explanations of various trees and bushes in their garden, blooming beautifully even in the winter.

When his parents left them alone, Phineas and Ellie relaxed in the living room and listened to records, most of which belonged to Mrs. Prewett. In her day, she had been a rather popular performer in the wizarding world. These days, she managed the famous singer Celestina Warbeck and played cello in a string quartet on the weekends.

"My mum always wanted me to sing," said Phineas, "When I was six she made me perform at the family Christmas party but my stage fright was so bad that I actually threw up. She sort of gave up after that."

"You should sing for me sometime," said Ellie, "I can't carry a tune to save my life."

"Who needs to sing when you can name all sixteen varieties of fowl-eating shrub? I think my dad wants to trade me in for one of you. He was convinced that I was going to follow in his footsteps."

"Do your parents know you want to be a writer? I'm sure they wouldn't be disappointed if they read one of your stories, even if it is completely devoid of music or venomous tentacula."

"Nah, they don't think that writing is a real job."

"You don't need a real job if you're inheriting all this."

"I'm supposed to grow the family fortune, not squander it. Besides, the upkeep of a place like this is ridiculous. I'd rather live in a normal apartment."

"Hey, are there other wizarding families nearby? I feel like muggle neighbors would find your everpurple maples a bit suspicious."

"Oh yeah, there are a few. You'll see Tiberius's place tonight at the party. And the Malfoy Manor isn't far either. Actually pretty much all the families in the area are members of the extended Black clan… not everyone is invited to the party though. The Flint side of the family is pretty selective about who gets to come, and we don't argue since they host it at their house. I suppose that if we invited every single person we were related to, we'd have to invite half the wizards in England."

"Is it ok for me to be there? I mean, I'm not exactly pureblood, am I…"

"Don't worry about it. Just tell them you're a Slytherin and they won't even question it."

 

Mrs. Prewett modified some beautiful old dress robes for Ellie to borrow. They were a rich emerald green with delicate silver stitchings, but Ellie felt a little silly wearing such an adult garment. Mrs. Prewett also helped Ellie put her hair up. For the first time, she realized how long it had gotten. When she first got to Hogwarts, it had barely brushed her shoulders, but now it was halfway down her back when she wore it loose. She couldn't remember the last time she had a haircut.

Phineas wore his deep blue dress robes surprisingly well, and seemed much more comfortable in the glamorous apparel than Ellie did. She supposed that he was used to fancy events, growing up in a family like this.

They arrived at the Flints' home around 5 o'clock and were ushered into what Ellie thought was a ballroom at first, but turned out to be the entrance hall.

"You didn't mention that they lived in a palace, Phin."

He laughed a little and said, "It's not a palace, Ellie. They make all the rooms bigger for events like this, but the enchantments wear off in a day or so. Their house is normally about the same size as ours."

Despite Phineas's claim that there was a limited guest list, there were easily over a hundred people there. The first thing they did upon arriving in the festively decorated main room was to present themselves to the hosts.

Mr. Flint shook Ellie's hand firmly and said, "Good to meet you, dear! I've heard so much about you from our Tiberius. He speaks very highly of you."

Ellie blushed a little and muttered her "nice to meet you." Mr. Flint also presented his wife to Ellie. Mrs. Flint was sitting in a high-backed wheelchair dressed up to look like a golden carriage, but there was no hiding the fact that she was not well. Her skin was pale and drawn, and she was staring mindlessly into the middle distance, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. It was an especially sad sight next to her bouncy cheerful husband. Marcus was sitting in a chair beside her, holding his mother's hand and stiffly nodding his acknowledgement to the guests who came to greet him.

Tiberius was there as well, looking rather stunning in a black star-strewn cloak that perfectly matched the mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes. "Finally, Phin!" said Tiberius, "I thought you'd never get here. Let's ditch the old folks and have some fun."

Ellie thought that Mr. Flint or the Prewetts might be offended by this, but they showed no signs of it. "Go on, kids," said Mr. Prewett, "Try not to terrorize the house-elves this year. You know how contradictory orders upset them."

Tiberius led the way through the thin crowd, taking a whole tray of horderves from a house elf along the way. "Thank God you came when you did. I swear if I had to listen to one more elderly relative go on about how much I've grown and how nice I look all dressed up…"

"You do look nice," said Ellie.

He laughed and replied, "Thanks. But it sounds better coming from you than Great Aunt Druella, who's going blind by the way. You two look nice as well. Auntie Sue knows what she's doing. But nevermind that. Check out who Aunt Cissy brought along. It seems we're not the youngest ones here anymore."

Ellie followed Tiberius's line of sight and immediately locked onto a couple and their young child on the other side of the room. After a moment, Ellie recognized two of them. "Hang on, I've met them. That's… Narcissa, isn't it? And her son?"

Even from this distance, Ellie could see that the boy was the spitting image of his father.

"Poor kid looks so bored," said Tiberius, "Why don't we go rescue him?"

"No way," said Phineas, "I don't want some little kid following me around all night."

"Well now you know how Marcus felt with you tagging along all the time. You've got to pay it forward, Phin. It is your responsibility as an elder cousin."

"We're like six times removed from the Malfoys. I don't owe him anything."

Before they could come to a decision, Narcissa noticed them staring and waved them over. It would be rude to refuse, so the three of them made their way across the room, with Tiberius in the lead.

"My, how you two have grown," said Narcissa, "And who is this young lady? Surely not a long-lost cousin who's been left off the family tree?"

"This is my friend from school, Ellie Nihil" said Phineas, "She's in Slytherin with me and Tiberius."

Tiberius jumped in and added, "Ellie, this is Narcissa Malfoy, our dear but distant cousin, and her husband Lucius Malfoy. And unless I am mistaken, this must be their son, Draco."

Narcissa smiled proudly and said, "Yes, this is Draco. He'll be in Slytherin with all of you next year. We thought it was a shame he hadn't met the family before, so we finally brought him along."

"I didn't want to come," said Draco.

"Now, Draco, don't be rude," his father chided, "This is Tiberius Flint, one of our generous hosts. And his cousin, Phineas Prewett. And Ellie… Nihil was it? I'm not familiar with the name."

"I wouldn't expect you to be," said Ellie haughtily. She tried to make it sound like her family name was on a level of importance above that of the Malfoys, such that their social circles wouldn't even touch enough for him to know the name. The truth was that Nihil was probably a fake name made up by her probably teenage mother who didn't want her. She didn't think that Lucius quite believed her implications, but she'd planted just enough doubt for him to not press the topic. And as far as she could tell, Narcissa had not made the connection between the young witch in front of her and the girl she had briefly met in diagon alley two summers ago and immediately identified as muggle-born.

Tiberius smoothed the awkward moment by inviting Draco to come sit with them while the adults chatted. When Narcissa nodded her approval, Draco unstuck himself from her side and followed them to the back corner of the room where there were some chairs set up near the buffet.

"So, Draco," said Tiberius, "Why didn't you want to come to my party?"

Draco glanced back in the direction of his parents, clearly regretting his choice to follow the older children to a secluded corner. "I didn't mean to insult you."

"Oh I'm not insulted. Just curious. You see, I don't want to be here either, but seeing as I live here, it would be rather hard to avoid…"

Draco relaxed at this a little. "It sounded boring. Just a bunch of elderly cousins I don't know talking about things I don't care about…"

"Spot on, little man," said Tiberius, "Luckily, you found us. And we're  _ very _ interesting. Isn't that right, Phineas?"

"Speak for yourself," said Phineas.

"He's just being modest," said Tiberius, "Phineas here is a world-class storyteller. He'll spin a yarn so convoluted it'll make your ears fall off, and then you'll thank him for it."

"Your ears fell off because I cursed them off," said Phineas, "and I cursed them off because you weren't paying enough attention to my story."

"See!" insisted Tiberius, "Never a dull moment with Phineas around. And Ellie here is a master dueller. You wouldn't want to piss her off, but if you could get her mad at someone else it could be very entertaining."

Ellie winced. "Don't put it like that. It was one duel, it was self defence, and I deeply regret it."

Tiberius leaned towards Draco and said in a mock whisper that they all could hear, "It was three against one. Each of her opponents had twice her height, three times her strength, and six times as much experience, but she knocked them all out cold."

Draco seemed impressed. "But my father said that duelling wasn't allowed. I thought you could be expelled for that."

Tiberius nodded solemnly, "She could have been. But fortunately, she's also top of her class and a teacher's favorite, so she's immune to punishment."

"Now that's just not true," said Ellie, "I'm only top in two of my classes."

Tiberius smirked at Phineas and said, "Well that's two more than either of us."

Draco said, "My father said that Professor Snape is the only teacher worth impressing. Are you one of his favorites?"

"That's an understatement," said Phineas, "I think it would be fair to say that Ellie is his favorite student ever. She's a verifiable potions genius."

Ellie couldn't bring herself to argue with that, but it still made her uncomfortable, so she tried to change the topic. "What are you most looking forward to at Hogwarts, Draco?"

"Definitely Quidditch. Father says that first years aren't allowed brooms, but I think he can force the school to make an exception for me."

"I've never heard of a first year making the house team," said Phineas, "You'd be up against some stiff competition at tryouts. But our friend, Adrian, got in as a second year and scored, what was it, fifteen? Twenty? Goals against Gryffindor in the first match of the season. So it can be done, I guess."

"I'll introduce you to my brother, Marcus, later," said Tiberius, "He's the Captain of the Slytherin team and I'm sure he'd like to meet some young talent, with all his best players graduating in the next year or two."

They spent a while after that discussing the various members of the Hogwarts Quidditch teams and their performance for the season. Despite not knowing any of them, Draco seemed very interested in their prospects. 

Ellie was grateful when Mr. Flint called the room for attention. With a wave of his wand, a large stage grew out of the floor and lifted him into the air. Everyone took this as a cue to stop their conversation and pay attention.

Mr Flint then pointed his wand at his throat and said with a magically amplified voice, “Welcome, everyone, to our 17th annual Christmas reunion! I hope you have all enjoyed your night so far.”

Everyone cheered and clapped appreciatively. He continued, “As you all know, this is not just an opportunity to chat with our favorite cousins, but also a chance to share our achievements with the whole family. To start the show off right, I am proud to present my sister-in-law, Sue Prewett, and her ensemble, who will be performing an original composition, performed for the first time, right here, tonight!”

Amid the cheers, Mrs. Prewett took the stage with her companions while Mr. Flint summoned a troop of chairs that landed among the crowd. There was a good deal of shuffling as everyone got settled. Tiberius took Ellie firmly by the elbow and steered her toward the front of the room. “You’ll want a good seat for this,” he said.

As soon as everyone was seated facing the stage, Mr Flint waved his wand and dimmed the lights. There were just a few glowing orbs above the stage acting as spotlights, and the room was dim and quiet.

The quartet included a cello, an upright bass, and two violins (or possibly one violin and one viola. Ellie had only heard of the latter and couldn’t be sure). The piece was slow and gentle and full of sadness, but also warmth and beauty. It wasn’t long, for a classical piece, and elicited a soft collective sigh as it came to it’s trembling and poingient end.

Mr Flint took the stage again during the applause and said, “thank you, Sue, for that beautiful preview. For those of you who are interested in hearing the full piece, I encourage you to get tickets to the International Wizard's Festival of Music this summer, where it will be performed in its entirety. Next, I believe we have an announcement from Edward and Jocelyn Flint.”

A young couple stepped onto the stage and nervously announced that they were expecting their first child this spring. Mr Flint then presented them with a gift for the child, on behalf of the whole family. It was a silver rattle, apparently a family heirloom, and there was much appreciative oohing and ahhing.

“Congratulations again to the expecting couple,” said Mr Flint, “my youngest is all grown up and it is high time I passed on this gift. Speaking of which, our next performer is my very own son, Tiberius Flint, who has prepared a surprising spectacle for us all!”

Tiberius leaned over and whispered to Ellie, “Are you ready to watch me blatantly disregard the statute for the reasonable restriction of underage sorcery in front of a dozen ministry employees?”

Ellie was taken completely by surprise, in fact. Phineas had failed to mention that the party would include a concert at all, although she supposed that he had alluded to it earlier.

Tiberius leapt onto the stage and looked like he was about to lose his balance, but at the last moment turned it into an elaborate bow. The family laughed and cheered enthusiastically. Tiberius flourished his wand and summoned an array of musical instruments out of the air. He was facing the audience behind a conductor’s stand with the instruments floating in a semi circle around him. 

Suddenly serious, he tapped his wand on the stand to get the attention of his imaginary ensemble and began to conduct.

The upright piano began to play a slow dirge and The audience settled in for another serious performance, but after a moment he cut the piano off and pointed his wand at the drum set instead, which played a rock-esque cascading intro, and the piano came back in with a jazzy upbeat tune. Tiberius winked at the audience and they all laughed.

One by one, he pointed at the bass and the saxophone and the trumpet and had them join in on the song, which Ellie realized was actually just the same short sequence playing in a loop. The family was really into it and a few people were snapping along and nodding their heads to the beat.

At one point the saxophone seemed to go rogue and start showing off with its own embellishments of the Jazz piece. Tiberius angrily waved at the band to stop and they came to a squeaky halt, with the rogue sax carrying on a bit longer than the rest. Tiberius scowled at the instrument and wagged his finger as the audience laughed. It was all a part of the act, of course.

After he was done chastising the sax, he raised his wand again and immediately launched the band into the song again, but this time with more complexity, energy, and no repeating bars. The crowd cheered and Tiberius grinned as he conducted his piece with renewed vigor. For the final part, Tiberius set his instruments in motion and took the saxophone to play the final improvised riff himself.

Ellie was not alone in giving him a standing ovation. Draco stayed seated, clearly thinking himself above such a thing as excitement, but even he seemed impressed.

Tiberius was out of breath and a little bit sweaty when he sat back down next to Ellie, but she felt honored to be sitting next to such a talented wizard and musician anyway. "How did you learn to do that?" she asked.

"Homeschooling. My mom taught us reading and writing and maths and stuff, but Phineas's mom taught us all music. And as for the magic bits… well you're not the only one who sneaks off to disused classrooms at night to pursue extracurricular interests."

Ellie wanted to ask more, but Mr Flint was back onstage again inviting not one, but two recently engaged couples to come up and share their wedding plans with the family. Mr Flint then took it down a notch and invited everyone to join in a moment of silence for the two older relatives who had passed away in the last year.

When that was done, Mr Flint said, "We have one more performance tonight before we resume our feasting and dancing and erstwhile festivities. My eldest son, Marcus, will be playing Vivaldi's Presto, from The Four Seasons: Summer."

There was a smattering of polite applause, but nothing close to the enthusiasm that Tiberius had received. Ellie guessed that they had both performed in years past, and Tiberius was clearly the better showman. Marcus stood centerstage with his violin and didn't even look at the audience. Ellie had been too far away to see his face before his first Quidditch match as captain, but she imagined that he had borne the same look of grim determination then.

Not being familiar with classical music, she wasn't sure what to expect from a piece called "summer," but her initial thought was something light and airy and peaceful, which clashed humorously with the image of the grim teenage jock onstage. Ellie would have never pinned Marcus Flint, best known for racking up more fouls than goals in his first season on the Slytherin team, as a violinist. The instrument seemed too small and delicate for him. But seeing him onstage now, he held the bow as gently as he had held his mother's hand.

He stood on stage without playing for an uncomfortably long time, gathering his thoughts with his eyes closed. By the time he finally brought the violin to his shoulder, Ellie could feel the anticipation in the air.

From the very first note, Ellie was stunned. There was no ramp-up to the intensity. Marcus's fingers danced along the neck and his bow sliced rapidly across the strings with a passion that took Ellie's breath away. Even knowing nothing of music, Ellie could tell that this was a challenging piece, from the speed of it alone. But the impressiveness of the tempo couldn't compare to the anger with which Marcus played. Every so often there was a screech or a sour note, but it seemed to add to the power of his playing rather than detract from it. 

The raw emotional energy of it brought a tear to Ellie's eye, and it seemed that underneath the anger and ferocity of his piece was a well of sadness giving it depth and meaning that Ellie could scarcely comprehend. It seemed almost indecent to be watching him play, like she was spying on a private moment. All too soon, the piece built to an overwhelming crescendo and then dropped into silence as the final note echoed around the room.

Slightly delayed, the family burst into applause. Ellie looked to Tiberius to see his reaction and found that his eyes were brimming with tears as well. Tiberius noticed Ellie's look and said, "I've never heard him play like that before. I didn't know he had it in him."

Mr Flint went up on the stage again and said, "Thank you all for your attention! I hope you enjoyed this little family showcase. And I hope that even more of you participate next year. Now, if you'll all stand up, the dancing portion of the evening can begin!"

When everyone was standing, Mr Flint vanished the chairs and brought the lights back up again. Mrs. Prewett and her ensemble set up on stage again and immediately began playing. Many guests, including Ellie, fled to the walls, but many also grabbed partners and began to dance. Ellie could tell that this was some sort of choreographed song that everyone knew, since all the dancers were twirling and stepping at the same time. She wondered if dance lessons were common among the pureblood elite. The Malfoys looked positively regal, cutting a stately path across the floor with their practiced rhythmic movements.

"Come on," said Phineas, "time to escape before dad makes us dance."

Ellie said, "but I don't know how to dance!"

"Then you'd better hurry up and follow us," said Tiberius.


	10. Jones

Ellie told Yuki all about the party when they got back in January.

"You're such a liar, Phineas!" said Yuki, "You made it sound so boring last year."

"Well last year my mum played boring instrumental stuff for 40 minutes and Marcus's solo was completely uninspired. And all the stuffy adult small talk gets old pretty fast. The only thing that makes it worthwhile is Tiberius, honestly."

Ellie sort of agreed with this. If Tiberius hadn't taken the lead it would have likely been a much less entertaining night. As it was though, she was thoroughly satisfied. Mrs. Prewett had even let her keep the dress robes, so she had something nice to wear if the occasion ever called for it. The best part of the night, though, had been when they got home and Phineas sang for her. He'd been quite good, but Phineas swore Ellie to secrecy. His greatest fear was being forced to sing in public, and people were much less likely to do that if they thought he couldn't sing at all.

“What did you do during vacation, Yuki?” Asked Ellie.

“I just hung out with my parents at home. It was a nice break, but nothing exciting happened.” Yuki replied.

“Nothing?” Asked Phineas incredulously.

“Oh wait!” Said Yuki, suddenly remembering, “my mum got a wand! After all these years she finally gave in to the peer pressure…”

“No way!” Said Ellie, “does she like it?”

“Well she hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it yet, but I think she’s excited to be learning something new. She’s hiding it from the rest of the family, though. My Grandmother would be so disappointed. My dad supports her though, which is really all that matters.”

“Hey speaking of wands,” said Ellie, “I’m going to go work on that now. We’ll catch up later.”

“So are Sunday’s with Sprout over now?” Asked Yuki.

Now that Ellie was back on speaking terms with Snape, she didn’t feel as drawn to the greenhouses. “For now. Maybe I’ll help her when she gets something new.”

 

Ellie spent the afternoon brewing her revised wand core solution with Snape and telling him about her break. He seemed particularly interested in the Malfoy boy. “His father is a friend of mine,” explained Snape. “And also one of the school governors. He’s a good person to know.”

“You’ve never mentioned him before.”

“It never came up.”

“Do you have lots of other friends you’ve never mentioned?”

Snape glanced over at his shelf where the bottle from Medea Jones was still sitting unopened. “Maybe a few. Colleagues, mostly. Watch the way you’re mashing those fire berries, though, you don’t want them completely liquified yet.”

When they were putting the finishing touches on the potion, there was a knock on the door that caused both of them to jump.

Ellie turned down the heat and Snape loudly announced, “you may enter.”

Eurydice Jones walked into the office with a little scroll clutched in her hand and said, “I’m sorry to bother you, sir. The headmaster gave me this for you…”

While Snape read the parchment, Eurydice gave Ellie a curious look which Ellie resolutely ignored.

When he was done, Snape tapped the paper with his wand and said, “ _ incendio _ .” Then he turned to Ellie and said, “I’m afraid you’ll need to finish this on your own, Ellie. Be sure to put everything away when you’re done.”

Ellie nodded her assent and Snape immediately swept out of the office, leaving the two girls behind. When Eurydice made no move to leave, Ellie returned to her brew and elected to ignore the Gryffindor. They hadn’t spoken since their first day on the train, and she saw no reason to start now.

“Don’t touch that,” Said Ellie testily when Eurydice reached for a bottle on the desk. “Don’t touch anything.”

“What are you making?” Eurydice asked cheerfully.

“No talking either. Wait till I’m done.”

Eurydice watched with interest as Ellie stirred the tiny cauldron with a glass rod. She took the empty bottle and carefully coiled a single unicorn hair into the glass. She ladled the translucent purple concoction into the bottle until the hair was fully submerged, then put a stopper in it. "Ok, I'm done," said Ellie, starting to clean up the desk.

"So what were you making?"

"A potion."

Eurydice laughed good naturedly, despite the obvious rebuke. "I gathered that much. I didn't know that Snape did extra lessons. Have you always done this? Is that why you're so good at potions?"

"No, I've always been good at potions. I don't need help for that."

"I wish I was good at potions. I think it's my worst class."

"Then you should study more."

"Maybe you could help me study?"

"Why are you so interested in me?

"Because you're  _ interesting _ . If you'd just tell me what you're making, it would find you less mysterious."

"It's… a preservative," said Ellie evasively. She gestured at the dozen jars of slimy creatures on the shelf, "It's one of Professor Snape's specialties."

"You two seem close."

"We're not," said Ellie, a little too quickly. "We just both like potions."

"Everyone knows that Snape isn't really interested in potions," said Eurydice, "He's always been more interested in the Dark Arts, hasn't he? And I've heard that you have a certain natural talent for that as well."

Ellie sensed that Eurydice had finally arrived at her point. "He wants to teach  _ Defence _ Against the Dark Arts," said Ellie, "There's a big difference there. And you'll stop listening to rumors about me, if you know what's good for you. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right, because that doesn't sound suspicious at all."

"It's none of your business." Ellie vanished the remaining potion and tucked the small vial into a pocket of her robe. "Now get out so I can lock up."

Eurydice looked like she wanted to ask more questions that she had no right to ask, but decided against it. Instead she smiled sweetly and said, "I understand. If you ever want to talk, I'll be around."

Ellie waited a minute for the Gryffindor girl to leave, then headed back to the common room, locking Snape's office door behind her. She had totally fallen for that sweet act when they first met, but Eurydice was definitely up to no good now. Curiosity about the relationship between Ellie and Severus couldn't lead anywhere good for her.

 

Dumbledore was writing a letter at his desk when Snape arrived. "You asked to see me right away?" said Professor Snape.

"Ah, yes, Severus, I am glad you took my request for haste seriously, but I must admit I was expecting young Jones to take longer to deliver the message… I do hope she didn't interrupt something important?"

"As I'm sure you are aware, she interrupted a meeting with Ellie."

"Yes, I understand that those meetings have recently resumed. I had thought, perhaps, that you were taking my warnings to heart and allowing yourself to grow away from your young ward, but it seems I was mistaken."

"I'm not letting her go, Albus. Not for anything."

"You may come to regret that conviction. But we have no time to discuss this now. I need your full concentration on a different matter. There are dark tidings from the forests of Albania. Disappearances. Deaths. I fear that there is little point in wishing for the best now. Voldemort is getting stronger."

"What am I to do with this information?"

"Nothing, for now. Professor Quirrell has mentioned his desire to look for answers there during his sabbatical, and I am inclined to let him look. I think I may be able to extract some useful intelligence from him when he returns."

Snape scoffed, "from that stuttering Muggle Studies teacher? I had hoped that you would be sensible enough to not invite him back after this year. As pointless as I find the subject, at least Charity Burbage is making an effort to turn it into a respectable discipline."

"Quite right." said Dumbledore, "Which is why Charity will be continuing to teach Muggle Studies, while Quirrell takes up the Defence Against the Dark Arts post."

"He would be even more of a joke than Brightwell is!"

"That may be the case, but it is not up for debate. There are few who are willing to acknowledge that Voldemort is still out there, and still dangerous, and I would like to keep them close for when the time comes to oppose him in earnest. But again, we stray from the point. It is not of Quirrell that I wished to speak. You are, I believe, familiar with the Sorcerer's Stone?"

"Of course."

"My dear friend, Nicolas Flamel, has been reading the same signs that I have. He fears that Voldemort may attempt to steal the stone. He has moved it to a safe at Gringotts, but does not believe the bank to be as secure as it once was."

"I see. And the only place safer than Gringotts…"

"Is Hogwarts. Even so, it will need more protection than we currently have at our disposal. I am asking you and a few of the other teachers to design some traps, enchantments, or other safeguards to protect the stone. It will take all of your ingenuity and some significant time, I'd imagine. This must be able to keep out Voldemort himself."

Snape contemplated the proposal. Somehow, without noticing, they had moved past the point in their scheming where they considered whether Voldemort would be able to return to power. They had moved past the point where they discussed when, as well. The time was now, it seemed, and Snape was not prepared. Just when things in his life were settling into a comfortable rhythm, here was this obsessive and impossible task of defeating the dark lord, rearing its head again.

Perhaps sensing the shroud of apathy descending, Dumbledore smiled and said, "It is only a precaution. It may very well be nothing more than the paranoia of two very old men. But let us not take any risks. Put your mind to the task, please."

Snape agreed to the job, not that he had a choice. "Headmaster, I need to ask. Of all the students at Hogwarts, why send Eurydice Jones to my office?"

"She volunteered."

"Volunteered?"

"Yes, I did ask another first year to deliver the message, as he was walking by at just the right time. But he seemed reluctant to oblige. Frightened, you might say. But Eurydice overheard and offered to deliver the message herself. Curious, isn't it?"

Snape grunted noncommittally. He wondered now if she had volunteered to deliver the Christmas present as well, or if that conversation is what had generated her eagerness to speak privately to Snape again.

"Her mother is quite interested in you as well," said Dumbledore, "She asks about you rather often. How you started teaching, your apparent favoritism in classes, your favorite haunts in Hogsmeade…"

Snape did not like the sound of that at all. He was sure now that the frequency of their encounters was no coincidence, but she had gone to some lengths to make all their meetings seem accidental. It sounded like nosiness and trouble, but most frustrating of all, he could not think of a good reason for her meddling. Eurydice was perfectly content to be a middling potions student, and Snape had not been unduly cruel to her.

"I see you have a lot to think about," said Dumbledore, "but remember your priorities, Severus."

 

Severus did not remember his priorities. The task of guarding the stone was relegated to a background thought process as he considered other matters. Things were good with Ellie. As long as he let her do whatever she wanted under his supervision, she didn't seem inclined to run off and do it on her own. He wasn't sure what she would do if he said no to something, though. She even asked to be allowed to brew liquid sunshine one Sunday, just for practice, and he allowed it. If he hadn't, he imagined that she would have found a way to do it on her own eventually.

Eurydice Jones also picked up an annoying habit of staying after class to ask him questions. They always started as reasonable questions related to the lesson, but somehow always managed to segue into personal questions about his interests or history at Hogwarts. He didn't like being manipulated, and he always dismissed Eurydice immediately if she got off topic, but the encounters were getting to him. He felt like he was being spied on, somehow.

When she started to ask questions about Ellie, Snape decided that it was time to put a stop to this. Whatever Jones' interest in him was, he didn't want Ellie involved. He thought, perhaps, that some of the governors wanted to remove Snape as Potions master. Dumbledore had always protected him, despite his lack of popularity, so they would need to get creative in order to have a chance of ousting him. Snape had plenty of skeletons in his closet that they could unearth, but the tendency of the questions made him believe that they might be going for a Secret Daughter scandal instead.

He sent an owl to Medea, taking her up on her invitation for drinks at any time. Friday night at the Three Broomsticks. 

He planned to figure out her motives during their conversation, but their conversation left him more lost than before. She did indeed ask personal questions that he found a bit nosy, but she also volunteered her own stories, which caught him off guard. 

He found out that her day job was in advertising, managing campaigns for small businesses and negotiating with radio stations and quidditch teams for promotions and the like. Snape was a little envious of her freedom through self employment, and of her apparent enjoyment of her work. Teaching was not exactly his calling in life.

Medea said that her true calling in life was to raise her daughter. She was exceedingly proud of Eurydice, despite the fact that she showed no great proficiency in any interest of note. Snape thought that her bragging was entirely unwarranted, but he did respect her unconditional, if a little overbearing, love for her child.

Medea seemed to be laboring under the misinformed notion that Snape liked children. It seemed that she was attempting to extract some sort of compliment from him about Eurydice or another student, but he felt no need to comply with her expectations. Ellie was the only student worth mentioning, but he wasn’t planning to bring her up.

He did mention that Eurydice had been staying after class quite often to talk to him, although he did not say whether this was a positive peculiarity or not. Medea seemed genuinely surprised by this, as Eurydice had never mentioned it. Snape thought, then, that Eurydice must have her own motives, beyond orders from her mother.

Eventually he turned the conversation toward her role as a governor, in an effort to suss out some motive for her and her daughter’s snooping. But Medea insisted that all the Governors spoke very highly of him, especially Lucius. Apparently she and Lucius had been friends since their days at Hogwarts, where she was a Ravenclaw in the same year as Malfoy. Snape concluded then that she would be unlikely to be colluding with the other governors to get him fired.

When they parted ways at the end of the night, she managed to extract a promise from him to do this again soon. Snape was no closer to discovering the source of her interest in him but it had been, at least, a rather enjoyable evening all things considered. She could be a friend, he thought, if she weren’t secretly trying to sabotage him somehow.

 

The following week was very peaceful, for Hogwarts, with everyone ramping up for the end of term. The fifth and seventh years were studying hard, but had not yet reached the point of having breakdowns. Ellie finished her sixth attempt at a wand, and was rather successful. With an adequate supply of wood, cores, and potions on hand, they spent their Sunday afternoon just talking together. He tried half-heartedly to get her to do some transfiguration practice that she sorely needed, but he couldn't bring himself to push her too hard. Her charmwork was improving, at any rate. She had to work ten times harder to coax even the simplest spell out of her newly crafted wand, but any success at all was quite remarkable, given that she was self taught.

Snape had some meetings scheduled with other students as well, as their head of house. Career counseling was one of the better parts of his job, although the other heads of house found it more tiring. Slytherins usually knew what they wanted, though. The OWL students who came in already knew exactly which NEWT classes to take and the NEWT students generally knew their next steps by this point in the year as well. He was rather proud to have not one, but two Slytherin students with ambitions to join the Healer program. Their potions work was sufficient for an Exceeds Expectations NEWT score, at least, and he was confident that they would be accepted, especially if Snape wrote their recommendations. 

Snape was better poised to help his students than he had been a year ago. It took mere minutes for Lucius to introduce him to an array of powerful wizards, each of whom was an untapped opportunity for some young witch or wizard in Slytherin. It paid to know the elite of the wizarding world, whether healers or ministry officials or marketing managers with a knack for encouraging promising entrepreneurs. 

He'd almost forgotten what that was like to be a part of that world, locked away in a study at Hogwarts. It was something that had appealed to him when he was a student. All the parties and connections and summer retreats that went along with being a pureblood. For a while, he had been a part of that aristocracy as one of the Dark Lord's key supporters...

But that was a long time ago. There was nothing glamorous or prestigious about teaching a bunch of snotty children. Still, to be tangent to that world again felt good. There was power in that, even if he was using that power for nothing more than promoting his favorite students into respectable careers.

On Friday morning, Snape was surprised to receive a letter along with his usual newspaper delivery.

 

_ Severus, _

 

_ I will be visiting Hogsmeade today to attend to some business, and would be honored if you would join me for dinner. It has been far too long since we have caught up.  _

 

_ Sincerely, _

_ Lucius Malfoy _

 

The sudden resurgence of Snape's dormant social life was a slight inconvenience when it came to his work, but it was not entirely unwelcome. In any case, Lucius had not asked for a reply and was clearly expecting Snape to be there, so when classes were over, Snape did not join the others in the great hall, but continued down to Hogsmeade.

It was good to catch up with Lucius. They spent a good amount of time thoroughly discussing Brightwell's many incompetencies. Lucius was relieved to hear that he would not be returning next year, although no one had really expected him to.

"What do you think of this curse then, Severus?" asked Lucius.

"There is no curse," said Severus, "Merely a long string of incompetent teachers."

"If you insist," said Lucius, "but I wouldn't risk it if I were you. Some of our teachers met worse ends than sacking, if you recall."

"A Potions master is harder to replace, I think, so I won't be in any danger any time soon."

"That is good to hear. It is a comfort to know that Draco will have at least one teacher worthy of their post. You haven't seen him recently, have you? He's grown about a foot in the last year."

Snape wondered if parents ever got tired of talking about their children. It was certainly no accomplishment that Draco had managed to hit a perfectly predictable growth spurt, but Lucius said it like it was a prize-winning feat. He wondered if he would ever have a chance to brag about Ellie. Inventing spells and potions was considerably more impressive than Draco getting his first full size broomstick, but he couldn't share such a thought, of course. Dumbledore would be furious if Snape spoke so highly of a muggleborn in front of Lucius, who would surely be first in line to serve again when Voldemort regained power.

With a jolt he remembered the task that Dumbledore had set him, months ago now. This was no hypothetical. This dinner was meant to be a part of his pretense, his espionage. But he had quite forgotten that and was treating it as a friendly catch-up between old friends. With all his paranoia about what Jones was doing, he had somehow forgotten that Lucius would be his real adversary someday soon.

It was hard to remember that while Lucius talked about Draco, though. The proud father was a quite untouched by the troubles that Dumbledore laid at Snape's feet. The dark mark on his arm was as faint as ever, and he was blissfully unaware of the rumors abroad, and seemed primarily concerned with securing Draco a spot on the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"I know that first years aren't allowed brooms, but I think we could make an exception for such a promising young player, don't you?" said Lucius.

Snape smirked and replied, "I'll see what I can do. But I don't have nearly as much influence over the headmaster as you seem to think."

"You'll talk him into it, I'm sure."

"Smooth talk has never been my strong suit, Lucius, and the rules are not in Draco's favor."

"I hear you can be quite charming when you have a mind."

Snape wrinkled his brow in confusion. As far as he knew, no one had ever called him charming. Clever, yes. Convincing in a debate? perhaps, but only due to his sharp tongue.

Seeing this look, Lucius continued, "Medea said she enjoyed her date with you, although she had rather expected you to follow up sooner."

"Date? What date?"

Lucius seemed disappointed. "Aren't you a little old to be playing these games, Severus? Two adults going out for drinks, talking for hours, sharing their hopes and ambitions? What would you call that?"

"Socializing with a colleague," said Snape defiantly.

"Well you'd better tell Medea that, because she called it a date. You don't want to be leading her on, Severus. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Snape considered this new information. It fit the facts. It is possible that Medea was interested in him because... she was interested in him. And if Eurydice was aware, then she would of course want to know more about Snape as well. And objectively, it really had looked rather like a date. He suddenly felt very stupid for not connecting the dots sooner. "That was not my goal," said Snape, "I was simply unaware of her intentions."

"Well if you hadn't considered it before, consider it now. You could do a lot worse than Medea Jones. Good family, good witch, and as ambitious as any Slytherin."

Snape frowned, "I can't date a student's mother, and a school Governor at that. It would be completely unprofessional. If I'd had any sense I would have stopped this nonsense months ago."

"That is your choice," Lucius replied, "but there are things more important than a career, Severus. When you have a family, you'll understand."


	11. Secrets

Ellie tried to convince Phineas that no one would notice if she skipped the last Slytherin game of the season, but he wasn't having it.

"You need to be there, Ellie!" said Phineas, "Show some house pride! Haven't you made enough wands already?"

"But I'm feeling really good about this next one," said Ellie, "It's going to be a million times better than the last one. I've been saving the best wood for last. It's got this beautiful grain and it's a bit springier than the rest of the branch and -"

"And it'll still be there tomorrow! But today we've got to go support Adrian. He'll be hurt if you're not there..."

"Since when has Adrian cared about that? Besides, we crushed Gryffindor so hard that we're going to win the Quidditch cup no matter what happens in this match."

"Ok, ok, Adrian doesn't care... but Donna will."

"Donna's not on the team!"

Phineas leaned in and whispered, "This is supposed to be a secret... but she is. The other beater got himself stuck in detention with McGonagall today and they're letting her sub in!"

"What? Why didn't she say anything?"

"Marcus reckons it'll give the Hufflepuffs a nice shock when an unexpected player shows up on the field with no time for them to discuss a change in strategy."

"Is Donna that much of a threat?"

"Well... no, not yet. She needs a bit more training if she's going to outshine the Weasley twins next year, but we want to keep the element of surprise on our side."

"Ok, ok, I'll come watch. But don't expect me to understand what's going on."

In the end, Ellie was glad she went. Slytherin completely destroyed Hufflepuff, and both Donna and Adrian had their fair share of shining moments that prompted the Slytherin crowd to chant their names. The announcer (a Gryffindor) was incredibly biased, though not entirely wrong about calling out Marcus's violent tactics. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were both supporting Hufflepuff in the match, so it felt like a purely Slytherin victory when they finally caught the snitch. The cup was in the bag, and the final Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw match would just be battling to see who wouldn't get last place. In the teacher's box, Ellie could see Snape clapping smugly while Sprout sat stiffly by his side.

She couldn't be sure, but Ellie thought that Sprout was a little cooler with her than usual in the next Herbology class. This might have been her fault, though, for dropping her Sunday help sessions. She'd been promising to visit again for months now, but Sprout probably realized at this point that it wasn't going to happen.

She wanted to finish her seventh wand before finals started and she needed to spend all her energy on studying. Even with minimal effort expended throughout the rest of the term, she still wanted top marks in the year end exams, if only to prove to herself that she could get good grades if she cared to try. 

Yuki was a firm believer in consistent study habits for maximum retention, but Ellie had faith in the last minute cramming method. She did pay attention in class, of course, but she had better things to do than homework.

True to his word, Snape hadn’t yelled at her about anything in months, even though she’d probably deserved it. McGonagall kept writing little notes on the top of her papers asking her to try harder, and Flitwick had on two occasions called her out in class for not having done the assigned practice, and Ellie was sure that Snape was aware of it. And despite the trouble it had caused this summer, Ellie now had a large bottle of liquid sunshine locked in her trunk.

These days, it was her friends and not Snape who were criticizing her behavior. Admittedly, her obsession with wandmaking had meant that they spent less time together this year, but a downgrade from “every second of every day” seemed healthy, in Ellie’s opinion. Phineas especially seemed to be branching out with his friendship now that he didn’t spend all his time sequestered in the library with Ellie.

 

After the last Hogsmeade visit of the term, Ben and Tiberius joined the trio of second years as they sat in the common room.

“Delivery for Prewett and friends,” said Tiberius, “Chocolate frogs, as promised.”

“And a sugar quill from Honeydukes,” Said Ben, handing it to Phineas.

Phineas took a bite and immediately spat it out again. “Ugh that tastes awful. What did you do to it?”

“Sorry did I say Honeydukes?” Said Ben with a grin, “I meant Zonko’s. And no, I don’t know how to reverse the effects.”

Yuki and Ellie both burst out laughing as his face turned a rather frightening shade of green.

“What? What is it?” Asked Phineas, “What did it do?”

“Good ol Zonko’s,” Said Tiberius, “Don’t worry, you can get us back next year once you’re allowed to go.”

“Zonko’s is good for a laugh, but it can’t beat people watching, can it Tiberius?” Said Ben slyly.

“No indeed, my friend. You never know who you’ll see in Hogsmeade. Remember when we saw the Minister of Magic himself at the Three Broomsticks?”

“Or that Hag outside the Hog’s Head?”

“Or Gwenog Jones at the post office?”

“Ok, we get it,” Said Phineas, “who’d you see this time?”

“Snape.”

“You see Snape all the time,” Said Yuki reasonably, “That’s nothing special.”

“But wait, there’s more!” Said Tiberius, “we saw Snape… with a girl!”

“No, a woman!” Ben corrected.

“A beautiful woman.”

“A beautiful woman who was laughing and smiling around sourpuss Snape”

“So what?” Said Ellie.

“So he was on a date!” Said Tiberius happily.

“I didn’t know he was dating anyone” Said Ellie.

“Well why would he tell you?” Asked Ben.

This was a good point. He would obviously keep that a secret from an ordinary student. But still, if it was true, he would have told Ellie, wouldn’t he? Yuki gave Ellie a calculating look, as if guessing her thoughts, which Ellie studiously ignored.

“Come off it,” Said Phineas “There’s no way he’s dating anyone. You’re just misunderstanding the situation.”

“I could see it in her eyes.” Said Ben seriously.

“How close were you standing?” Asked Phineas.

“Ok not her eyes. But her body language.” Said Tiberius.

“Yeah cause you’re the master of reading nonverbal cues. Is this how you convinced yourself that that fourth year girl was into you?”

They all laughed but Tiberius showed no shame, “she is totally in love with me. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

"I thought she said she'd rather go out with the giant squid," said Yuki.

Tiberius just shrugged and said, "She'll come around. I've just got to up my cool factor a little bit. Ben and I are starting a band."

Tiberius launched into a speech about his plans for their jazz/rock duo, but Ellie wasn't paying attention. They may have been able to drop that Snape news as a one-off joke, but Ellie was still hung up on it. Who could it be?

 

Ellie was leaving the great hall after lunch with Yuki on Sunday when Eurydice walked up to her. Ellie tried to walk faster to avoid the girl, but she kept pace easily. Yuki noticed and positioned herself between them to discourage any sort of interaction, but Eurydice was determined.

"I want to talk to you, Ellie," said Eurydice, "It's important."

"Not as important as our cherished house rivalry," said Ellie, "so leave me alone."

"Go talk to your own friends," said Yuki, "If you have any."

"If you don't come with me right now I'll tell the whole school your secret." said Eurydice quietly.

Ellie wasn't sure what secret she was referring to, but there were certainly enough to choose from. Private meetings with Snape, her history at the Children's Home, the source of her conflict last year with Kamat… 

"Ignore her," said Yuki, "She's bluffing. She's not going to tell anyone anything, even if there was something to tell."

"You don't know anything, Sasahara," said Eurydice, following them down the stairs to the dungeon, "so stay out of it."

"That's because there's nothing to know," said Yuki, "right, Ellie?"

Ellie considered it for a moment and conceded, "You have five minutes, Jones. What do you want?"

"I want to talk privately, without your shadow here," said Eurydice.

"Anything you want to say to Ellie, you can say in front of me," Yuki insisted. "I'm her best friend."

Ellie wasn't sure she agreed with that statement. Yuki was her best friend, but there were still a lot of things that Yuki didn't know. "What's all this about, then?" asked Ellie.

Eurydice replied, "Snape."

Ellie stopped short on the stair. There were definitely some secrets there that Yuki didn't know, and that should remain hidden no matter what. "I'll talk to you later, Yuki," said Ellie, pushing Eurydice back up the stairs. She didn't look back to see how Yuki reacted, and only stopped moving when she and Jones were locked in Ellie's usual classroom. "What about Snape?" asked Ellie.

"What sort of person is he?"

"what sort of - what?" asked Ellie.

"What sort of person," repeated Eurydice. "I'll start. He's a bully. He mocks students who don't perform well in his class and laughs along with you Slytherins whenever you do something cruel, especially to someone in my house. He's in love with dark magic, whatever you say, and openly criticizes Professor Brightwell at every opportunity. He's mean and unpleasant and greasy and doesn't care about anyone who isn't in Slytherin, and -"

"I don't have to listen to this. If all you want to do is insult Professor Snape, then find a Gryffindor to talk to. I'm leaving."

"No!" said Eurydice, blocking the door, "That's not the point. All of that stuff is how I know him, what I've seen. But you get along with him, don't you?"

"Obviously. But I'm a Slytherin, and you've already said you think he only cares about his house."

"You're closer to him than the other Slytherins, though. He doesn't give extra lessons to just anyone. I've asked."

"So what?"

"So I want you to change my mind," said Eurydice, "Convince me he's not all bad. Help me see what you see."

"Why do you care? He doesn't care if you like him or not."

"I don't want to hate him."

"But you do," said Ellie, "just like everyone else. It's fine. He really doesn't care what you think about him."

"I'm not doing this for him!"

"Then why?"

Eurydice shifted uncomfortably. "He's dating my mum."

Ellie sputtered incoherently. Tiberius and Ben seeing some mystery woman in Hogsmeade was one thing, but this was entirely something else. She couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

Eurydice said, "I'm positive. My mum told me herself. She always asks for my permission before it gets serious with a new boyfriend, and, well, I've never said no before... but he's my teacher! And he's evil!"

"He's not evil!" said Ellie hotly.

"Well he seems pretty evil to me," said Eurydice, "and I've been trying really hard to find some good in him. I keep trying to talk to him the way I've seen you talk to him, but he keeps brushing me off! He treats me like an irritating bug or something."

"You are like an irritating bug, though," said Ellie, "You may be an open book, but he's a private person and he doesn't like to be bothered. There's nothing evil about that."

"Well he can't treat me like that if he becomes my dad!" said Eurydice sharply. Then more quietly, "I'm afraid of him."

"He would never hurt you," said Ellie, with sudden sympathy, "I can guarantee that if he were your father, he would show you nothing but kindness."

"How can you know that?" asked Eurydice, "He's never been kind to me before. Not once."

Ellie could see the fear in her eyes. She'd seen it before, in every child sent off to a new foster home where anything could happen. And if she could stand to look in a mirror, she would have seen it in herself. It was not an unfounded fear. She knew that better than anyone. "Professor Snape was kind to me the very first time we met, even though he had no reason to be," said Ellie, "and he has continued to show me that kindness, in his own way. He has a limited supply of patience, I think, and his favors come in small doses, but it's enough. There are a lot of bad parents out there, but he isn't one of them."

Eurydice seemed a little comforted by this. "My mum's dated a lot of prats who seemed nice at first. At least Snape can't get any worse than his first impression."

Ellie wondered if Eurydice knew just how deep Snape's history with the Dark Arts went. He could definitely be worse than his first impression. But if you looked just a little bit deeper than that, he was so much better. Without thinking, she repeated the words that had comforted her when she was nervous about moving into Snape's house. "Parents that are mean to everyone but their kids are much better than parents who are nice to everyone but their kids"

"I guess that's true," said Eurydice, "but it's all too weird. I don't want him to be mean to me or my mum, but I think it'd be creepier if he was suddenly friendly."

"It's not creepy," said Ellie, "It's nice. Like he's saving all that kindness for a few special people."

Eurydice furrowed her brow and said, "You two really are close. Why?"

"Can't you just ask your mum what he's like?" asked Ellie, evasively. "Why do you need to ask me?"

Eurydice shrugged, "I asked her, but she's never seen him be really mean. And if he likes her, I guess he wouldn't be. Anyway, she thinks his standoffishness is just him being, I don't know, coy?"

They both cringed. Ellie didn't know much about dating, but she was sure that so-called flirting was a part of it, and she didn't want to think about Snape doing that at all.

"You've really seen him be kind, though?" asked Eurydice.

"Yes, really."

"Ok. That's all I really wanted to know. I hope I can see that side of him soon, but we can go back to ignoring each other again."

"Good. That's settled then," said Ellie, "He's not a monster, and you don't need to lure me into any conversations about his love life ever again. Now what secret were you going to leak?"

"Oh," said Eurydice guiltily, "maybe the thing about private lessons with Snape, but mostly I was bluffing. It's been really hard to get you on your own."

"Next time send an owl instead," said Ellie. "I really don't want to be seen talking to Gryffindors in the hallway."

"Thanks, Ellie," said Eurydice, "I'll try that."

 

Ellie was so lost in her own thoughts when she got back to the common room that she almost walked right past Yuki and Phineas.

"Where are you going?" asked Yuki, "What did Eurydice want to talk about?"

"Er... Potions," said Ellie, "it was nothing. I just need to drop my bag off and then I've got to go..."

"Go where?" asked Phineas, "Are you ever going to tell us what you do every Sunday? I know you haven't been helping Sprout and your wand workshop classroom was empty last week when I went to find you..."

"Don't worry about it," said Ellie, "It's not important. But I don't have time right now..."

Ellie dropped her bag in her room and immediately set off for Snape's office. She was a little on the early side, but she expected that he would be there already.

He was grading some papers when she arrived, but he put them aside when he saw the serious look on her face. "What's wrong, Ellie?" he asked.

"When were you going to tell me that you're dating Eurydice's mum?"

Snape replied after a moment, "Who told you about that?"

"Are you going to marry her?"

"What? No, of course not! Where did you get that idea?"

"Tiberius and Ben saw you with her in Hogsmeade. And Eurydice wanted to know if you'd be a good dad, and I told her you would be, but -"

"Slow down!" said Snape, "I'm not dating Ms. Jones, I'm not marrying her, and I'm definitely not becoming that girl's father. This situation is between me and Medea, and it is nothing for you or miss Jones to worry about."

"But I am worried! Not as worried as Eurydice, mind you, but you should have told me! Eurydice's mum told her!"

"I didn't realize there was anything to tell," Snape replied, "and do stop pouting, Ellie, it is most unbecoming. I am not obligated to tell you about my love life."

"Oh yes you are! This is why they don't let single parents adopt, you know. Bringing some untested adult into the picture without anyone's approval -"

"I'm not bringing anyone into the picture, Ellie. It's just you and me, as always."

"But Eurydice said -"

"Eurydice is misinformed. Medea, it seems, was a little too optimistic with her prospects. If you must know, I informed her yesterday that I was not interested."

"Oh," said Ellie, "why?"

"What do you mean, why? Because I was not interested."

"It's not because of me, then?" The righteous anger drained away and Ellie suddenly felt guilty about yelling at him. "I wouldn't really mind, you know. I just wanted you to tell me first, like Eurydice's mum..."

"No, it's not because of you."

"Good." said Ellie quietly, "Because I want you to be happy. You shouldn't have to sacrifice anything for my sake."

"Happiness has eluded me for thirty-one years, Ellie. But you've brought me closer to it than anyone has in a long time."

Ellie wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was too honest, somehow. Stripped of his sarcasm, Snape's pronouncements became a little overwhelming. Instead of responding directly, she asked, "Can you teach me cheering charms?"

"I'm sure I could, but you'll learn it next year anyway and I don't see why you'd need that with Restinctio Lux in your arsenal."

"Madam Marchbanks said that satisfaction was different from happiness."

"She's right, of course. Happiness is much more fleeting. The charm wears off quickly, unlike yours which lingers for hours or days... but it has its uses. Wand out, and I'll show you the movement."

 

Ellie felt like she had a reasonable mastery of cheering charms by the end of the afternoon, although Snape asked her to leave a bit early, claiming to have a headache from being a test subject for so long. Ellie thought that he just wanted to get off the emotional roller coaster though. She could see the cheering charm work, briefly, on each attempt. She'd never seen Snape so happy before and it was great fun to watch a smile take over his features. But in the minute or two when each charm wore off, he seemed worse and worse each time. Happiness was exhausting if you weren't used to it, she supposed. They finished the lesson off with a few moments of staring into Ellie's light of fulfillment, and called it a day. She wished she could end every lesson that way. Satisfaction was so hard to come by naturally.

She was still a little giddy when she returned to the common room. Before she could even sit down, though, Phineas and Yuki turned her around, saying they needed a word in private. Locked in her private classroom for the second time that day, Ellie asked, "What do you want to talk about?"

Yuki and Phineas both seemed reluctant to speak, but eventually Phineas found his courage and said, "So you know we've been curious about what you do on Sundays... Last year we thought, you know, that you just needed some alone time to go for a walk or whatever. But then this year you told us everything you did with Sprout for a while, but then suddenly got all secretive again. And Yuki thought -"

"Hey!" said Yuki,

"Okay, we both thought -" continued Phineas, "- that you were acting especially strange today. And it seemed like Eurydice might be like blackmailing you or something? So we followed you to Snape's office..."

Ellie tried to sound nonchalant when she said, "So? I'm allowed to visit a teacher's office."

"Right..." said Yuki, "Well, we may have also eavesdropped a little bit."

Ellie dropped the casual act and demanded, "What did you hear?"

"Er, pretty much everything," said Phineas, "but we didn't understand all of it."

"No, I think I understood it," said Yuki, "I think that you've been lying to us for two years."

"Come on, Yuki, you said we wouldn't jump to conclusions," said Phineas, "just let her explain."

"You said you were an orphan!" yelled Yuki, "that's a pretty big lie, don't you think? And always acting like you don't even know Snape that well, like you're just a good student or something! What a joke."

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not what it sounds like," said Ellie.

Phineas said, "It sounded like Snape didn't tell you he had a girlfriend and you were mad about it because he's your dad."

"Ok so it's kind of like what it sounds like," said Ellie.

"How could you not tell us, Ellie?" asked Yuki, "We're supposed to be your friends! I mean, does Eurydice know?"

"No, no! She doesn't! Nobody knows!" said Ellie, "Except Dumbledore and maybe some of the teachers here, nobody knows. You don't get it at all. I can't tell anyone. I mean, if Dumbledore knew that you knew he'd probably obliviate you or something. It's top secret, guys."

"Ooh dramatic," said Yuki rolling her eyes, "a very convincing cover story for pretending to be an orphan for TWO YEARS!"

"I am an orphan!" said Ellie, "Do you honestly think I made up all that stuff about growing up in a muggle Children's Home?"

"I dunno, you hardly ever talk about it," said Yuki, "Which I honestly should have found more suspicious, but I thought it was just so awful that you didn't want to remember it. I never stopped to consider that you weren't actually there. How did you even get to diagon alley this summer? Muggle houses aren't connected to the floo network! Do you live at Hogwarts year round?"

"No, I stay at Snape's house -"

"Ugh, see?" said Yuki, "That should have come up before! When did all this start, anyway? When he delivered your acceptance letter? or was that a lie too? And why aren't you saying anything, Phineas?"

Phineas had sat down in a chair and was quietly watching the exchange. He looked thoughtful and a little sad, but not hurt or angry like Yuki. He let the quiet moment stretch out for as long as he could, and eventually said, "I'm happy for you, Ellie. It sounds like he really cares about you, and whatever reasons you have for not telling us... well I hope you'll tell us eventually, but even if you don't I still love you and you're still my friend. I'm glad you finally have a real home."

Ellie fought back the tears threatening to overflow and said, "That's just it, though. I don't have a home, not really. Snape is just a foster parent. All this... this... love and happiness and security and everything is just temporary. At any time it could just... stop. You can't possibly understand what that's like. I saw it all the time at the Home, though. Kids who were fitting in well with their foster families, but then the parents moved or got divorced or had their own children or just got tired of having another mouth to feed... and they'd be back in the Home. And then they'd have to do it all again. And maybe I should have told you he was my guardian. Maybe I could have handled that. But to tell you that I was back in the home after all this? That he decided, in the end, that I wasn't worth it? That he didn't - he doesn't want me?"

The tears broke lose as her two friends jumped up at the same time to give her a hug. She hadn't even realized it until she was saying it out loud, but this was the real reason she hadn't been tempted to tell her friends about Snape. Vague and ominous threats about dangerous people were one thing, but this vulnerability was much worse.

"He wouldn't do that," said Phineas consolingly, "The way he was talking to you just now... there's no way."

Sniffling a little, Ellie said, "He would. We didn't talk for months this Autumn and I thought it was over. I was so sure he was ready to quit. You can't imagine what it's like to have a parent who can just jump ship whenever it gets too hard. Could your parents disown you for sneaking into Knockturn Alley? Because that's the sort of thing that gets foster kids sent back to the Home."

"I'm so sorry, Ellie," said Phineas, "I never meant you to get into trouble like that -"

"You don't need to apologize. That was just an example, anyway. Snape and I are on good terms again... but I'm never going to have what you two have. Annual Christmas parties or a family-run shrine... Someday I'm going to be on my own again. And I just need you to promise me that you won't make a big deal of it, ok? That's just what my life is, what it's always been. And pity makes it so much worse."

“Hey, we’re here for you,” said Yuki, “but we can’t be if you don’t tell us things.”

So Ellie told them. She told them about meeting Snape when she first ran away from a foster home, about how he had befriended her even when he thought she was a muggle. She skipped over her time with the Clarke’s and Snape's subsequent rescue mission, but she told them that Snape had taken her in as soon as he realized she was a witch. She clarified Snape’s role in the events of last year and summarized their most recent fight and reconciliation. She saved the hardest thing for last, though.

“It’s really important that you can’t tell anyone about this. I can’t really explain it fully, but it would be dangerous if people knew.”

“Dangerous for who?” Asked Phineas.

“Me, Snape, Dumbledore… you, probably “ said Ellie.

“Ok but what kind of danger?” Asked Yuki? “Like would he be fired? Are you worried about the social repercussions of being fostered by a social pariah?”

“Well, yes, maybe those things. But the implication was that the danger was more likely to involve… you know… torture? And murder?”

“Are you saying that someone is going to murder me because I eavesdropped on your conversation with Snape today?” Asked Phineas incredulously.

“No I’m saying that someone might torture you to get to me to get to Snape to murder Dumbledore.”

“Seems a little far fetched.” Said Yuki.

“I’m not explaining it right, then. You should both be scared right now.”

“You don’t seem scared, though,” said Yuki.

“I’m used to it. Like you said, I’ve been doing this for two years.”

Phineas shrugged and said, “scared or not, we’ll keep your secret. We never told anyone about the Children’s Home, right? You can trust us.”

“I’ll trust you if you swear to never spy on my personal conversations ever again.” Said Ellie. 

Yuki winced, “Alright so that was pretty low of us. But in our defense we didn’t actually expect to uncover a life-changing secret!”

“What were you expecting?” Asked Ellie.

“Secret entrance to the restricted section of the library.” Said Yuki with a shrug, as if this was the obvious answer.

“Secret underground garden full of rare and dangerous plants,” Said Phineas seriously.

Ellie nodded thoughtfully, "Those are actually some pretty good guesses."

"From now on, we don't keep secrets from each other, ok?" Yuki stuck out her pinky finger and said, "Promise?"

Ellie looked at Phineas nervously.

Yuki said, "Honestly if you guys have been telling each other secrets and leaving me out of the loop…"

Ellie blurted, "Phineas is a really good singer!"

"Hey, that was a secret!" protested Phineas.

"No more secrets!" said Yuki. "Time to fess up."

"Come on, we're never going to know everything about each other," said Phineas, "But yeah my deep dark secret is that I'm a classically trained singer with terrible stage fright. Not as impressive as the secret father, but there it is. What's yours?"

"Okay, I have one," said Yuki, "You may have guessed this already, but I'm the heir of my family. Not AN heir. It's a big family. But THE heir. As long as my aunt doesn't have any children, I inherit all the rights and responsibilities of the Oga Magic Dynasty."

"That just sounds like bragging," said Phineas.

"It's not. It means that as soon as I graduate from Hogwarts, I have to move back to Japan and take over the shrine."

"What, like forever?" asked Phineas. "No choice?"

"I am literally bound by ancient magical law. If I tried to stay in England I would be cursed for life for abandoning my duties…"

"That's heavy," said Phineas appreciatively. "Can I visit?"

"Yeah you can visit. I'll warn you, though, I'll probably be the only one there who speaks any English. Now you've got to tell me something bigger than being a good singer, which also just sounds like bragging by the way."

Ellie was glad that Phineas and Yuki were grilling each other now. They both seemed satisfied that they had discovered Ellie's big secret, but it was really just the tip of the iceberg. 

All of her fights with Snape this year stemmed from her unfortunate tendency to be drawn toward the dark arts. But she'd done well this year. Even with all of the sneaking around, nothing she did could be construed as evil. Even Kamat couldn't object to her behavior this term. Alright, so the liquid sunshine in her trunk was a little damning, but she was well known as a top herbology student and potions student, so surely it wasn't a suspicious thing to have. Her friends didn't know about it, but it wasn't exactly a dark secret, either.

But there were two deaths that weighed heavily on her conscience. And three seventh years she had beaten in a duel who knew firsthand what her wrath could feel like. Her single-minded obsession with crafting a wand had driven such contemplation from her mind for months now, but this talk of secrets was dredging it up again.

Pinky promises weren't binding enough to make her confess to murder, but if Yuki looked her in the eye right now and asked her if she'd gotten everything off her chest, she wasn't sure she could lie convincingly. 


	12. Fears

Ellie finished the last wand just before the last week of classes. It wasn't as powerful as she'd hoped, but she was able to perform every spell she tried, with enough effort. It was as good as she was going to get without formal training, she decided. Satisfied with her work, she decided that it was time to repay Hagrid for his help in procuring the materials.

She sent Nomad ahead to announce her visit, and trudged down to his house at the edge of the forest. He was sorting through a tub of wriggly worm-like things when she arrived, and asked her to sit down at the table with him. "Haven't seen you in months, Nihil. What brings you down here?"

"I wanted to thank you again for helping me with the wood and the Unicorn hair. I've been working on them all year, but I've finally made a wand worth showing you."

Ellie took out the wand and laid it reverently on the table between them.

"It's beautiful, Nihil! Well done, well done indeed."

"Go on then, try it out."

Hagrid smiled bashfully, "Now, you know I'm not allowed to do wand magic. I could get in real trouble for that."

"But I'm not a real wandmaker, so that's not a real wand. Besides, what the ministry doesn't know can't hurt them."

Hagrid looked at the wand hungrily, fighting some internal battle. Eventually the Gryffindor in him won out, and he picked up the wand. Somehow, the little stick looked just right in his giant hand. The wand was shorter and thinner than the others Ellie had made, so she thought that it might not be suited for such a big man, but in his surprisingly delicate grip, Ellie could suddenly see the wizard that he might have been, had he not been expelled so young.

He waved the wand gently and sent a shower of multicolor sparks shooting over Ellie's head. Then, sadly, he put the wand down. "Thank you for that, Ellie. It's as fine a gift as I've ever received."

"So you'll keep it then?" said Ellie, "You're accepting the gift?"

"What? Goodness no, I couldn't do that. I meant the experience of using a real wand again was a gift. And it was, Ellie, it really was. I'll treasure it."

Frowning slightly, Ellie said, "I made it for you, you know. It's your wand. I know it's not as good as the one you got from Ollivander, but it's yours."

"Oh, Ellie, that is very kind of you. But I really can't accept. Someday if they clear my name, maybe… but owning a wand right now could cost me my job, or worse. Best to play it safe, eh?"

 

Ellie was disappointed that Hagrid refused the wand, but she resolved to never get rid of it, just in case he changed his mind someday. And with all her materials used up, she had no choice but to focus on her studies. Yuki could not have been happier about this, and Phineas was pleased to have another study partner as well. Somehow, Donna and Adrian ended up in their study group too. They'd been so caught up with Quidditch that they were now in the same boat as Ellie, desperately studying for the year end exams to bring their grades back up to a respectable level.

In the last week, several teachers assigned some extra credit work for bonus points on their finals. Snape was above this, of course, as he thought that students should be graded purely on the merit of their work and not on their eagerness to do extra homework just as badly as they always do. McGonagall assigned an optional essay, which she then made explicitly required for Ellie, and Ellie alone. Mr. Brightwell awarded points to the best drawing of any magical creature they'd studied that term, which most students didn't even attempt, knowing that Sarah Phillips, artiste extraordinaire, was in the class.

Flitwick offered some free points to anyone who could perform a charm that Flitwick himself had not taught. Yuki had something prepared, as did a number of other students, but Ellie outshone them all by performing her own invented spell. Flitwick was so impressed that he doubled the number of points he had originally offered and tearfully proclaimed Ellie to be a secret charms genius. This was probably just an aftereffect of the spell, and it was likely to backfire when her genius charmwork failed to manifest itself next year, but for the moment it felt good.

And Finally, Professor Sprout offered extra credit to anyone who was willing to show up on Saturday morning to clean out Greenhouses six and seven, which apparently hadn't been used in years and were in desperate need of repairs. Ellie didn't need the credit, but she did want to leave Sprout with a positive impression of her at the end of the year. Phineas and Donna needed it badly, though, so the whole group signed up.

On Saturday morning, the five of them showed up to the greenhouses along with three Hufflepuffs and a Gryffindor that Ellie vaguely remembered as the first person in Hogwarts history to sustain a serious injury from flutterbush. To their surprise, they were also joined by Professor Brightwell.

"Always happy to do a favor for my former head-of-house!" explained the Defence teacher, "Professor Sprout will take those four to deal with Greenhouse six, and I expect you five will want to stick together in Greenhouse seven? Of course if one of you feels more comfortable working with the certified Herbology Professor, you're free to switch teams! Ha!"

As a matter of fact, Ellie would be happier with Sprout. An unattended greenhouse in a school of magic was sure to breed all sorts of dangerous plants, but after he said it with that ingratiating smile, it would be hard to admit that they were unhappy with his presence. They spent the first 30 minutes hacking at a vine that refused to let them open the door. And after a while, the vine got tired of their attempts and started hitting back. It took all of their efforts and more than a little fire to get it to retreat far enough from the entrance to let them in.

The inside was worse. Old decrepit cabinets full of rotting equipment, broken ceramic shards that cut at them as they tried to clear away the debris. Ellie thought about giving it up and just going back to the common room, but Phineas looked so pathetic trying to get his shears back from a wild Devil's Root that she couldn't bring herself to abandon him. "Here, you've just got to stroke it like this," said Ellie, demonstrating the technique. As soon as it dropped the shears, she scooped the now docile plant up in her arms and deposited it in a nearby pot.

As Professor Brightwell was complementing Ellie on her excellent plant wrangling skills, Donna shrieked and jumped back from the cabinet she was attempting to de-vine.

"What is it?" asked Yuki with concern.

"It- it moved!" said Donna, "I think there's something in there!"

They all stared at the tall wooden cupboard, waiting for something to happen. Without the sound of shears and smashing pottery, they could hear something, like a quiet rattling, from inside it. Then there was a sudden THUMP followed by a visible shaking of the old thing. Donna backed up quickly, all the way to the door.

"It's probably just an animal," said Ellie, "Or that vine again, back for revenge."

"Go on then," said Adrian, "open it."

Ellie didn't want to open it, but Adrian was practically daring her to do it and she could hardly back down now. Ellie approached it cautiously, as the rest of them joined Donna by the door, ready to run at a moment's notice. Ellie took her shears and snipped the remaining vines that were holding the door shut, and took a few steps back.

The thing in the cabinet hit the door with a loud bang and creak of swollen wood, but the door stayed closed. Ellie glanced back at the Slytherins huddled by the door in front of their teacher. None of them were rushing forward to help. She steeled herself to face some sort of monster or angry plant and reached out to open the door, but before she could, the door burst open with a crash, and she stumbled back.

She could not have prepared herself for what came out of that cabinet. It was more shocking and terrifying than anything she could have imagined. Mrs. Clarke, broom in hand, stepped down onto the leaf-strewn dirt floor and made a low sound of disapproval. "Now, if you can't keep your room clean, you know what happens."

Ellie struggled to breath. It was like the wind was knocked out of her. The air was coming in and out of her mouth in short gasps, but there wasn't enough oxygen to go around. She blinked her eyes to dispel the dizziness, but it had no effect.

Mr. Clarke stepped out of the cabinet after his wife, and said in a terrifyingly quiet voice, "Have you been good today?"

Ellie suddenly didn't have the strength to stand. Trembling, she fell to the ground. A part of her was aware that it was a dirt floor in a dim greenhouse, but a larger part of herself felt that she was back in that basement, staring up at Mr. Clarke's silhouette at the top of the stairs. He was going to lock her away again, and there was nothing she could do. There would be no more above-ground excursions to school this time. She would be alone down there for hours or days or weeks, but she had no way to tell the time. There would only be the darkness, the hunger, and and the visits from her foster father, which were worst of all.

Then it was pitch black. Had he closed the door? Or had she closed her eyes in anticipation of the blow? 

She could feel the hot tears on her cheeks as she choked back a sob. She wasn't supposed to cry. They hated the noise and it would only make things worse. The loud rattle of her attempts to breathe made her panic even more. Her arms came up to protect her head and she curled up as small as she could, trying to regain control of her body, her thoughts, or at least her breath. Silently, she prayed, desperately, for someone to come and save her.

 

Snape heard her. It had been nearly two years since he heard it last, but he recognized the sensation immediately. Silence descended mid-conversation, accompanied by a sudden pain with no clear origin. And he heard her scream.

The silence lifted and he sagged against the hallway wall. The pain was gone immediately, but only for him. For Ellie, it was still real, and she needed his help, immediately.

"What is it, Severus?" said Professor McGonagall with concern.

He waved her away. Whatever she'd wanted to discuss could wait. Ellie needed him, now. But where was she? He wished fervently that he hadn't discarded the nanny disc. With that, he could at least narrow down the possibilities. His first thought was of the dark forest again. There were a hundred different things in there that could kill her, or worse. 

"Severus?" said McGonagall, "The headmaster wanted to see us both, but if it isn't a good time -"

"I need to find Ellie," he said, taking a few steps down the hall. But what if she was in the other direction? He turned and walked back, trying not to panic.

"She's with Professor Sprout today, isn't she?" said McGonagall, "Cleaning out the greenhouses with her friends."

Snape vaguely remembered Sprout mentioning something about that, and immediately sprinted toward the door, without acknowledging McGonagall's words. He ran as fast as he could, dignity be damned. He wished again that he could just apparate there, but he was close and it wouldn't take long. If he had room in his thoughts for anything but reaching Ellie as quickly as possible, he would have realized that he was running supernaturally fast, propelled by magic that was beyond his conscious control.

He burst into the greenhouse a minute later, wand drawn, and immediately shot a curse at the figure standing over Ellie, without even processing who it was.

"Severus, no!" exclaimed Brightwell, from the corner where he was cowering, but the exclamation was unnecessary. The man seemed completely unaffected by the spell, although he had now turned his attention to Snape. 

Yuki Sasahara ran forward to grab Ellie, but pulled up short when the man turned his eyes to her. Before their eyes, the man transformed into a huge Jorogumo demon. Yuki backed up, open-mouthed and horrified, tripping over the general debris.

Brightwell blanched and said, "But how? Here - At  Hogwarts!"

Snape yelled, "It's just a boggart, you fool! What sort of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher can't recognize a simple boggart? You know the spell don't you?"

Brightwell stuttered "Y-yes! But I can't - I don't want -"

"Useless!" Snape interrupted, "Get the children out at least!"

With this statement, the children ran for the door and Brightwell grabbed Yuki's robes to haul her out as well, while Snape stepped forward to face the boggart. Ellie was on the ground still, unmoving, but he could face only one fear at a time.

Snape knew it was coming, but couldn't prevent the cold dread that stole over him when the boggart changed shape. A humanoid figure in a billowing cloak, completely hidden but for the skeletal hand raising its wand to point at Snape.

" _ Riddikulus. _ " said Snape, firmly. The figure dropped its wand and tripped over the long robe. " _ Riddikulus!"  _ said Snape, louder this time. The Boggart disappeared in a puff of black smoke, and Snape ran forward to check on Ellie.

"Ellie?" he whispered, kneeling beside her, "It's alright now. You're safe. You're safe."

Ellie uncovered her head and looked up at him. "Professor? But I was - I thought I was… but I - I'm not, and you're here and -"

She burst into tears and fell into Snape's arms. He held her and repeated, "It's alright. They're gone. It was just a boggart. You're safe." until she had calmed down.

Eventually he noticed that Brightwell had reentered the room with the other children, and he let her go.

"Is it gone?" asked Brightwell nervously.

"Yes, no thanks to you," said Snape testily.

"What  _ was _ that?" asked Donna, looking around for some sign that the creature was still there.

"A boggart is a shapeshifter that changes its appearance based on the fears of the beholder," said Snape, "which you would know if Professor Brightwell was competent at his job."

"You can't talk about me like that in front of my students!" protested Brightwell.

"As far as I'm concerned, these are my students, not yours. I have tolerated your incompetence long enough. If you can't defend my students against a simple boggart, you have no business teaching here."

When none of the students leapt to his defence, Brightwell muttered something about needing to tell Sprout what happened, and slunk out of the room, beating back a vine that was attempting to close the door behind him.

"Sasahara, come here," said Snape, "Are you alright? Facing a boggart unprepared is a nasty experience."

Yuki was a little pale and shaky but she managed to say, "Yes, sir. I'm fine."

"Back to the common room with all of you, then. Nihil, with me."

 

Ellie didn't seem quite so frightened back in Snape's office, but couldn't quite settle down. She still seemed to be only half there, with the other half of her stuck in that memory. Snape was relieved to know that she was never in physical danger, but it had been real to her. He'd felt it when she called to him. He'd never known a boggart to have such an effect.

"That was Mr. Clarke, wasn't it," said Snape.

Ellie nodded.

"You never talk about them. I hadn't realized you were still so affected."

"I didn't either. But when I saw them - I mean the boggart pretending to be them - it was like I was back there again. And I just felt so powerless, like there was nothing I could do to help myself. I don't ever want to feel like that again…"

"You are powerful, Ellie," replied Snape, "And you always were, even then. You were able to reach me, weren't you? Both times, no wand."

"And you came."

"I'll always be there if you call for me."

"I'm afraid… I'm afraid that someday you won't."

Snape considered this. A boggart can play on many fears. The obvious conclusion to draw from today was that Ellie was deathly afraid of the Clarkes. The trauma she'd endured at their hands was obvious, and it was a well founded fear. But there was more to it. Ellie was afraid that Snape wouldn't be there for her forever, that someday she could end up with a family like the Clarkes again. Snape would never let that happen, though.

"I've been thinking…" said Snape. "Do you want to stay with me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean forever. I want to know if I can… if I can be your father?"

Ellie tried to process this. If he was saying what she thought he was saying… She tested the word, to see how it felt. "Father…"

"You never need to go back to the Clarkes or anyone like them ever again," said Snape, "I can guarantee that, if I adopt you. But only if that's what you want."

Snape was nervous, afraid that Ellie might refuse. But he had nothing to fear. "Yes," Ellie said, "that's exactly what I want."

 

By the time Monday rolled around, half the grade was convinced that Ellie's muggle parents had made a surprise visit to the school, only to be banished by Snape. The rest seemed to understand that it was actually a boggart, but the consensus was definitely that Ellie's greatest fear was her parents.

She knew that Yuki and Phineas hadn't said anything, so she thought that Adrian, Donna, or Professor Brightwell must be the source of the rumors. Based on Donna's tearful expressions of sympathy, Ellie guessed that Donna was the one who had decided that the old couple were Ellie's parents. Stuck between a convenient lie and a dangerous truth, Ellie did nothing to stop the rumor. 

The pitiful looks she was getting now made her skin crawl, but it was hard for anyone to put her in a really bad mood. She was going to have a father. A real one, after all this time. In keeping with the new spirit of "no secrets" in their friendship, Ellie shared her news with Phineas and Yuki. She prefaced it with a bunch of caveats about pending approval and potential name change denial and possibilities of Dumbledore intervening, but her optimism was obvious.

This buoyancy carried her all the way through final exams and onto the train home, where she carefully avoided the topic in the presence of Tiberius, Ben, and Catherine Fawley, newly reinstated friend and drummer for their suddenly plausible band.

Ellie visited the Children's Home for what she hoped would be the last time, for Miss Trumble to check in with her and confirm that she wasn't being adopted against her will or something. The whole place felt unreal, somehow, after living in the magical world for so long. All these muggle children running around, completely unaware of the powerful witch that had once lived in their midst.

But that was over now. She was finally going to be where she belonged.


	13. Answers

The final steps in the approval process didn't require her presence, so Ellie decided to take her studies to the next level while she waited for her oldest dream to come true. With Snape's blessing, she journeyed to Diagon Alley on her own, to seek out the greatest wandmaker in the world.

Ollivander's shop was quiet and empty when she arrived. Aside from the annual Hogwarts rush, he didn't have much business. She rang the bell on the counter and waited a minute, then rang it again. After a while, Ollivander came slinking out of a back room to meet his customer.

"Miss Nihil again, is it? Having trouble with your wand?" he said, recognizing Ellie.

"No, sir, that's not why I'm here."

Ellie took a wand out of the pocket of her robe and laid it on the counter between them.

"What's this?" asked Ollivander

"A wand," said Ellie.

"This," said Ollivander, pointing at it, "is a stick. A pretty stick made of fancy wood."

Ellie took out a second wand and placed it before him.

"A mockery of a great artform," he declared.

She placed her third wand on the counter. This one had a large crack running down the side from when she had attempted to cast a spell with it.

"A parody of a failure," said Ollivander.

The fourth wand was smoother and uncracked, but Ellie had never been able to achieve any magic with it.

"There is more to a wand than sticking a hair through a block of wood. This stick is lacking all the essential features that make a wand. It is an insult to have such a thing in my shop."

Already expecting this response, Ellie pulled out the fifth one. This one used her first attempt at the wand stain, but had no treatment of the core, and she'd blown the tip to splinters shortly after it was made. But Ollivander did not seem so insulted by this one.

"Where did you get this woodstain? It's far too thick."

"I made it," said Ellie, placing her sixth wand on the counter.

Ollivander picked this one up and looked it over carefully. "Most unconventional," he said, "and still lacking some key components, but I think… yes, I think you could call this a wand." 

Ollivander peered down at Ellie, perhaps taking her efforts seriously for the first time. "How many more of these do you have hidden in your pockets?"

"Just one," said Ellie, extracting her final creation. 

Ollivander took it eagerly and evaluated it as he did the other. "Whose wand is this?" he asked.

"It's my wand, I made it," said Ellie, a little confused.

"No, no. Unless I am very much mistaken," said Ollivander, "this wand has chosen a master. And I do not think it is you… who else has used this wand?"

There was only one other. Whether he wanted it or not, this wand had decided that Hagrid was its master. "Oh… just someone." said Ellie.

"You should let them keep this," said Ollivander seriously, "it is bad form for a wandmaker to keep a wand that has already chosen."

"I tried," said Ellie, "He, er, didn't want it."

Ollivander narrowed his eyes at this news, but didn't press the matter. Instead, he said, "Congratulations, Miss Nihil. If you can make a wand that is capable of choosing its own master, then you can call yourself a wandmaker. But you are still a long way from mastery."

"I know," said Ellie, "which is why I want you to teach me."

"Yes, you are in need of a teacher," said Ollivander, "but I am not in need of an apprentice. I have two children, both of whom have been practicing their entire lives to take over this  _ family _ business. You will need to find someone else."

Ellie had expected this, but she was still disappointed. "I only want to learn from the best."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," said Ollivander, "I already know that I'm the greatest wandmaker alive today. But unlike some others I could name, I do not go around handing out trade secrets to any hobbyist who asks for them."

Ellie thought about arguing, but Ollivander seemed resolute. She asked, "Who would you recommend, then? Jimmy Kiddell?"

"That hack? He can't teach you anything you haven't learned from Gregorovitch already."

"Then where can I go?"

Ollivander scooped up all the wands into a bundle and handed them back. "Try my son. He has yet to surpass me, but he has no apprentice yet."

This was better than what Ellie had expected. Not THE Ollivander, but AN Ollivander. Learning from someone who learned from the best was almost like learning from the best, right? "How do I contact him?"

"He owns a furniture store in Hogsmeade. An letter addressed to Lionel Ollivander will find him."

"Thank you, sir," said Ellie with genuine gratitude, "I won't disappoint him."

 

While Ellie was in Diagon Alley, Snape was at Miss Trumble's Home for Girls, filling out the last of the paperwork.

"I'm so glad you decided to adopt," said Miss Trumble, "Ellie was always a bit strange, a bit hard to place… who knows where she'd be now without you."

Snape thought of the half-starved runaway he'd first met. If he hadn't intervened then, they still would have met someday, at Hogwarts. And without that fateful meeting, Snape's life would not be so different, still teaching at Hogwarts. But all the same, he couldn't imagine his life now without her. "I'm glad I found her," he said.

"I always thought this would happen, you know," said Miss Trumble, "from that first morning when you brought her back to us. You were so protective, and you didn't even know her! It's a beautiful thing, to be able to place a child where they belong."

Snape agreed, but it was a little too soppy for him, so he said, "Now I just sign here, and it's done?"

"That's right! Just one signature away from being a father. How does it feel?"

"It feels right," he said, signing the paper with a quick flourish.

"There! Done!" said Miss Trumble, stamping the stack of papers and sliding them into the folder. "Now that that's out of the way, I do have something to tell you, which may or may not be a surprise."

Snape gestured for her to continue.

"When Ellie came to us, her mother requested a closed adoption. That is, I was not legally able to tell Ellie anything about her birth parent. But now that Ellie has been adopted, the terms have changed. As per the original agreement, I can now tell you the mother's name and address, so you can seek her out if you wish."

Snape had not expected this at all. He'd taken for granted that Ellie would never know her birth parents. But now he could find out, once and for all, if Ellie's parents were muggles or not. Would Ellie want to know? She claimed that she didn't, but if it was this easy… "Why did the mother allow this?" asked Snape.

"Well, she was quite young at the time," said Miss Trumble, "not ready for a child, I think. But she said that the child may have questions for her someday that only she could answer. For many years, I thought she might come back for Ellie, you know. I only met her the one time, but she seemed the type."

"And you never contacted her again?"

"Not allowed. Not even for a medical history. So I take it you want to know?"

Now that he knew that he could know, he couldn't resist. For better or for worse, willful ignorance was not the answer. He nodded, and Miss Trumble moved to the filing cabinet to get the information. He tried to prepare himself. The address could be in his own neighborhood. The name could be a witch he knew. Or worse, it could be some filthy drug-addled muggle who would destroy Ellie's life upon re-entering it…

Miss Trumble slid a piece of paper across the desk, and Snape read the words. Then he read them again. He was not prepared. His mind spun in circles, trying to take it in, but there was something in the way. His body got the message before his brain did, as a thick tear dripped off the end of his nose and onto the paper. But even through the watery smudge, there was no misinterpreting the name above that familiar address.

 

When Ellie got back from Ollivander's she started to excitedly relate her story about possibly apprenticing with the wandmaker in Hogsmeade, but stopped when she noticed Snape's red eyes. He looked like he'd been crying. "What's wrong?" she asked, "Was there some problem with the adoption?"

"No," he said, sounding a little hoarse, "No that's done. No problems."

"But, that's… that's good news, right? That I - that I'm your daughter now?"

She was suddenly overwhelmed by the thought that he was regretting it. He was going to change his mind, make them reverse it. Snape started to say something, but his voice cracked. He put his head in his hands and abandoned himself to crying for a minute. Not sure what to do when your adoptive father is crying like a child, Ellie awkwardly patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's alright."

After recovering himself a little, Snape said, "Sit down, Ellie, we need to talk."

Ellie sat down on the sofa opposite Snape's armchair and asked, "About what?"

Snape took a deep breath and began, "About your mother. Miss Trumble told me her name and -"

"I don't want to know," interrupted Ellie, "I always said that I didn't want to know."

"Please, Ellie. I know you've said that before, but I need you to know."

Ellie bit back a snappy remark. He shouldn't have found out. He should have told Miss Trumble to keep it to herself… but he did know. And whoever it was, it had a big impact on him. With a sudden realization, Ellie asked, "Did you know her?"

"Yes."

"Was she a witch?"

"Slow down. There… there needs to be an order to this. I - can I start with the hardest part first?"

Ellie nodded.

"She died. Ten years ago."

Ellie felt like she had the wind knocked out of her. Snape wasn't leading her into this gently at all. This is what she had secretly hoped for though, isn't it? That they had never come back for her because they were dead? And it didn't matter, then, who she had been. It didn't matter that Ellie had never looked. She'd been dead for most of Ellie's life. Ellie didn't feel like crying. It felt right, somehow. Like the obvious answer to the great mystery of her life that she'd never wanted to investigate. Dead. Gone. Book closed, story over. 

But Snape had more to say. He had known her, after all. "Ok," said Ellie, "I'm good. Go on."

Snape pulled something out of his pocket, and handed it to Ellie. It was a small photograph of two children, no older than Ellie was now. One of them was obviously a young Snape. He was smiling, just a little, and kept glancing over at the girl next to him. She was laughing and shaking out her hair. She must have been looking right at the lens when the photo was taken, but to Ellie it felt like the girl was looking at her.

"Her name was Lily Evans," said Snape, "and she was my best friend."

"Oh," said Ellie, softly, understanding the source of the tears. "I'm sorry. So, she was a witch then? At Hogwarts?"

"She was the finest witch I'd ever met." said Snape, looking fondly at the photo, "but we met here, as children, before starting at Hogwarts."

"Like us?" asked Ellie.

"Just like us," confirmed Snape.

"I don't look like her," said Ellie, "except maybe the hair."

Snape smiled a little, "No, but you do look quite a lot like her mother. And her sister. It would have been obvious if I was looking for it, I think."

"Grandmother…" said Ellie, "and Aunt. I have a family then."

"There is so much to tell you," said Snape, "and I don't know where to begin."

"Maybe you can start with how you met?"

Snape told her some stories. It was hard to wrap her head around the idea that the shadowy half-imagined figure she'd had in her mind for so long had been a real girl, and Snape had known her well. It seemed like too much coincidence, but the magical world was small. She could feel that Snape had loved Lily, and possibly still did. He had nothing but wonderful things to say about her. She was a potions genius, humorous, and unfailingly kind. As he spoke, though, Ellie could feel a little bubble of anger growing in her chest. Good people didn't just abandon their babies at orphanages.

“If you were her best friend,” Said Ellie, “did you know about me?”

“No, I had no idea.”

“How could you have missed that?”

“Well, we… grew apart. In our last year of school, when she must have been pregnant with you, I hardly saw her. And then we graduated and went our separate ways.” Snape hesitated and added, “She joined the Order of the Phoenix to fight you-know-who… and I became a death eater.”

Ellie wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “So… in the end… you were enemies?”

“No, never enemies. I could never have raised a hand against her." He paused in thought for a moment, then continued seriously, "I think, given the information that has come to light, that it is time you understand my past. I had thought to protect you from it… but it’s clear now that you were always going to become involved, one way or another. You recall, I hope, Dumbledore’s warnings to keep our relationship secret?”

“Of course.”

“Well, to shorten an exceptionally long and convoluted story, I came to regret my service to the Dark Lord and became a spy, under  Dumbledore’s command.”

“So you and Lily were on the same side then?”

“Yes, although she never knew. But there is more, so much more. Do you know how the Dark Lord fell?”

“Yes. He tried to kill Harry Potter, and it backfired on him.”

“And you understand that he’s not dead? That he’ll be coming back someday, maybe someday soon?”

Ellie nodded.

“Well when he comes back, I’ll need to be a spy again. And honestly, I’ve never really stopped.”

“Wow,” Said Ellie, “that’s pretty impressive. But what does that have to do with me?”

Impressive is not what Snape had been going for, though he was a little honored that Ellie had interpreted it that way. He explained, “The Dark Lord has always threatened innocents to control their loved ones. It is… an incredibly effective tactic. And Dumbledore, I think, sees you as a weakness that I cannot afford. If the Dark Lord threatened you, I would be at his mercy. I would do anything he asked of me, no matter how repugnant, in order to protect you."

"You don't need to do that," said Ellie, "you should do the right thing, even if it means I might get hurt."

"Maybe I should," said Snape, "But I wouldn't, and Dumbledore knows that. I won't claim to be Dumbledore's only secret weapon, but it would greatly damage our cause if I were not able to fulfill my duties. And he also thought that adopting a muggle born child would damage the image I need to maintain in order to successfully infiltrate their ranks again.”

“But I’m not muggle born. So it’s better now, isn’t it?”

“No, I’m afraid it’s worse. You know the name Harry Potter, of course. But do you know who his parents were?”

Ellie shook her head. She knew she’d read their names somewhere, but she couldn’t remember anything about them.

“On the night the Dark Lord was defeated, he murdered Harry Potter’s parents. James Potter and Lily Potter. Formerly Lily Evans.”

“No way,” said Ellie, “that would make the boy who lived my brother!”

“He is. Which means that you are in more danger than ever.”

Ellie didn’t care about that, though. “My mum was married, then,” said Ellie quietly, “and they had a son who they kept.”

Guessing her thoughts, Snape said, "She was young when she had you, and still unmarried. I don't think it would have been an easy choice, but she wasn't ready for a daughter at eighteen."

"When she was ready, though," said Ellie, "they didn't come back for me. They had another child. And they kept him. They died for him."

Snape shifted uncomfortably and said, "We'll never get to know their reasons for certain. It's too late for that. But I have my guesses. You have to understand that the wizarding world was still at war when they died, and they were both strong opponents of the Dark Lord. You were safer, hidden in the muggle world. Maybe they intended to come back for you someday, but were robbed of that chance."

"They thought it was safe enough to keep Harry," said Ellie, "Why wasn't I worth the same risk?"

"I can't answer that for certain," said Snape.

"But you have your guesses? Are you really going to try to justify it?" asked Ellie, the bubble of anger bursting, "They didn't want me! I came to terms with that years ago. My mum and dad never wanted me, so they left me at the Home with all the other unwanted children. But now you suddenly show up and tell me that my mum was this wonderful person who could do no wrong, and expect me to be happy about it! To you she was a friend. To Harry she was a mother. To the wizarding world she was a hero. But to me, she was just a dumb teenager who got knocked up and couldn't handle the responsibility."

"Please don't blame her," Snape pleaded.

"Who should I blame then?" said Ellie, "my Father? James Potter? You haven't said anything about him yet. Was he a kind and loving hero too?"

"No, definitely not," said Snape, "but we don't know that Potter was your father."

"Just what I'd expect from a teenage mother," said Ellie petulantly, fully aware that she was insulting Snape's dead best friend. "I bet she had loads of boyfriends."

Snape put his head in his hands and stayed there for a while. Ellie couldn't tell if he was angry or crying or both, but it gave her time to fume quietly. This moment should be about her, she thought. It was her birth mother and her life being turned on its head. An hour ago, she was excited to be getting one father, more family than she'd ever dared to hope for, and now she was finding out that there was so much more. Dead parents, a famous brother, an aunt who looked like her… She hadn't asked for any of this. She didn't want to know in the first place, but she couldn't take it back now. And then there was that point she'd blown over earlier about how a dark wizard would probably want her dead because her birth parents had opposed him more than ten years ago.

Snape lifted his head and began again, "I know that this is a lot to take in right now. It's a lot for me too. But there's more I need to say, before you decide to hate Lily."

Ellie wasn't sure she could handle any more right now, and Snape looked close to a breaking point as well, but there was no stopping him.

"The way I see it, there are two likely candidates who could be your biological father. But no matter who it is, I am your father now, and I love you very much. I don't want anything about your birth parents to hurt our relationship."

"Will you hate me if I hate Lily?" asked Ellie.

Snape winced but said, "No, of course not. It is your right. But I don't think you will hate her, when I've finished, although you may hate me."

Ellie had always harbored some small hatred for the parents she never knew, mixed in with a slurry of other complex emotions that she suppressed for her own peace of mind. That didn't seem likely to change now.

"The first person to consider," continued Snape, "is of course James Potter. They dated in our seventh year and later married, so most people would assume that any children she had would be his. It would be hard to verify this, and it is possible that he never even knew you were born."

Snape hesitated. Ellie could see a mixture of fear and sadness in his face that almost frightened her with its intensity. His eyes were brimming with tears again, but he wasn't hiding his face. Whatever was coming next couldn't be good. "And the other?" prompted Ellie.

He started to answer, but couldn't get the words out. He was trying to suppress a sob, and his breath was coming in ragged gasps. "I'm sorry," he said, through the tears, "I am so, so sorry."

"Just get it out," said Ellie, not unkindly. It was hard to watch the ordinarily stoic professor breaking down like this.

"The other," said Snape, with a slight hitch in his voice, "is me."

Ellie wondered if she heard correctly. "You?" she asked, skeptically.

"Maybe," Snape replied, "And if I am… you can blame me for everything. When you were born, I wasn't there for you. I was - I was a Death Eater. I was torturing muggles and playing power games, and it killed Lily. How could she raise you, knowing what I was? Knowing I could come for you one day and bring you into all this? And despite all her efforts to hide you, it happened anyway. I'm so sorry, Ellie."

It took a moment for Ellie's already overwhelmed brain to catch up with Snape's train of thought. It made perfect sense. If she wanted to know how she, a witch, ended up in a muggle Community Home, she didn't have to look any further than the only wizard in town. And they'd always had a connection, from the moment they met. Natural, instinctual. Snape was her father in all senses: emotionally, legally, and probably biologically. Suddenly, blame didn't seem so important to her. 

Afraid to get her hopes up, Ellie asked, "Are you sure it's you and not James?"

"I'm not sure," said Snape, "But I think I'm right. There's nothing in you that resembles him at all, and… Eileen… I think Lily may have named you after my mother."

It was good to have a reason for her hideous first name, but this seemed like flimsy evidence. She felt that he was right though. And even if he wasn't, he was still her father, and he had been for years. It didn't excuse Lily, in her opinion, but she'd lived with unwanted children for long enough to know that happy marriages rarely included the love-child of a former affair.

"I don't blame you," said Ellie, "or Lily. But what does all this mean for me? For us?"

Snape looked relieved. "It means we're family," said Snape, "but we can't tell anyone. Not until the Dark Lord is gone for good."

"Will I ever get to meet the rest of my family? My Aunt? My half-brother?"

"Believe me, you don't want to meet Petunia. But you'll have the chance to meet Harry soon, even if you can't tell him who you are. He's starting at Hogwarts in September."

"Will he be safe?" asked Ellie.

"No," said Snape, "but I'll protect him."

**Author's Note:**

> If you got all the way to the end, thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed my story. Stay tuned for a possible part three?
> 
> UPDATE: Part three is in the works!


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